RWBY: The Revelations
by AxeLord91
Summary: Team SMG has come to Beacon and have gotten themselves into a mess as three dangerously powerful Grimms have come out of hiding and into the world. With the help of Team RWBY, they will have to push through the front lines and stop these three creatures.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A New Fight

Ruby Rose sat by her dorm window, viewing the dozens of students pass by the fountain. She's been doing this kind of thing for quite some time, looking for a new challenge in Beacon. Sure, being in a team is fun and all, but new people signify new challenges. She has already done this with the other teams and now she is somewhat bored that she has challenged everyone in Beacon and is hoping for someone new to come. Silently, she waits; not before something breaks the silence.

"Sis!" a voice from behind called. Ruby turns around to see her sister, Yang Xiao Long, waving from outside their dorm room.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling disturbed and annoyed.

"I know you're gonna love this!" she said, taking a seat next to her sister, "I just heard that a trio of new students are coming all the way from Sphere Academy. I also heard that they have some pretty wicked weapons. Your favorite!"

Ruby gave a smile, a tearful smile, "Yang," she said "I know you're trying to cheer me up. But, there's a reason why I'm doing this. I'm sure you remember?"

"Oh..." Yang said, sadden, knew what her sister meant, "Well, I'm sure mom would be proud of your efforts."

"Yeah..." Ruby said, softly, shedding a tear.

Yang seemed concerned as always. Ever since their mom went missing and haven't heard a word from her since, Ruby hasn't been the same; turning Crescent Rose into a HCSS rather than just a scythe as their uncle, Qrow, recommended, forged a hate for the Creatures of Grimm and the worse part, Ruby would never open up to her. Now this whole challenge thing has taken Ruby to the limit and she still wouldn't tell Yang why she did this. All of this was an embodiment of the fact their mom is missing. But, that was what Yang was thinking, but what Ruby knows could be far worse that what she knew. Yang decided to help out her sister by looking out the window. Then, she noticed someone.

"Oh, my god!" she exclaimed, as she rushed towards the door.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"They're here!" she said, the excitement in her voice was hardly unnoticeable. She then rushes away to the main door, leaving Ruby to follow her jumpy older sister. She sighs, trying to imagine what is to come.

Down below, three well armored students approached the school doors. Worried was written on their face at the sight of Beacon.

"Think we can survive this?" asked the boy with spiky hair wearing a blazer. He carried a rifle on his back and he bore a scar on his right cheek.

"I have no idea." said the boy with shaved hair, carrying a minigun on his back. He wore ninja attire that he fitted with shoulder guards and knee and elbow caps.

"Stop your whining, guys." Said the boy in hunting armor, bearing a shield with a cross emblem on it. His hair was brushed forward and wore a cape as well, bearing the same symbol on his shield, "You think we got moved ahead a year just to get here to Beacon?"

"No." Both of them answered.

"Then," said the boy carrying the shield, "we, Team SMG; Stephen, Marco and Gavin, will be one of the greatest teams here in Beacon!"

"Don't forget," the spiky haired boy told him, "we still have to pass Ozpin's initiation test for the new students plus, we're still unofficial."

"Right..." the boy with the shield answered. He then turned over to his shaved partner.

"Marco!" the shield-wielder said, "Grab the letter Ozpin sent us."

Marco opened their suitcase, which caused all of their stuff to burst out of the suitcase. Marco gave them a smile of embarrassment while his two teammates looked at him with such annoyance. Marco digs through and finds the letter and tosses it to Stephen.

"Hmmm..." Stephen said as he read the letter. "Okay," he said, "according to Ozpin, our initiation will begin tomorrow in the Emerald Forest, we must first report to Prof. Goodwitch a day before the initiation, and look for team RWBY?"

"Who's team RWBY?" Gavin asked.

Before Stephen can respond, someone crashed into him. It sounded like a girl but couldn't tell just before he/she crashed into him.

"Stephen!" Gavin said, pulling the person away from him.

"Stephen...?"Marco said, looking at his dizzy teammate.

"Oh, my god!" Yang said, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! Please don't be mad."

"Nice going, Yang." Blake said, coming in from behind.

"It was an accident, but I'm just so excited that they're here." Yang told Blake.

"Well," Weiss said, "I think you should've been more mature in your approach."

"C'mon Weiss," Ruby said, "Yang was only trying to be friendly."

"Ruby's got a point," Blake told Weiss, "I mean you know how she was when she heard about them yesterday."

"Excuse me," Stephen said, trying to get on his feet, "but how do you know us? And who are you girls anyway?"

"We're team RWBY." Ruby said.

"Wait, wait, wait!"Gavin said, "You're team RWBY?!"

"Forgive me," Marco said, "but you guys hardly look the part, especially you." pointing to Weiss. Weiss just glared at him.

"Well," Ruby said, "allow us to introduce ourselves first. I'm Ruby, the leader. The girl in white is Weiss, the heiress. The girl in the bow is Blake, the sort of silent type and the girl in yellow is my sister, Yang, the sort of sassy one." Yang and Blake rolled their eyes in criticism to Ruby's introductions.

"Nice to meet you guys." Stephen told them, "Anyways, we're team SMG, though we're still kind of unofficial. I'm Stephen Constantine, the dude in spiky hair is Gavin Lionheart and the shaved dude is Marco Churchill. We got moved up ahead a year 'cause we showed too much potential back in Sphere. Right, guys?" They nodded, confirming Stephen's words.

"Hey there." Ruby greeted them. She then took a look at Stephen's shield. She stared at them wide-eyed and awed at the sight of it.

"Is that a Gun-Shield?!" Ruby asked with pure excitement in her voice.

"Yeah." Stephen said, holding up the shield, "I made out of fragments from old shields and built the gun myself."

"I can see you're obsessed with weapons." Gavin said. "

"Pfft!" she spatted out, "Obsessed is hardly the term."

"My baby sister is obsessed alright." Yang said, rubbing her sister's hair.

"Am not!" she said, criticizing her sister's words.

"Yes, you are." Yang retorted.

"Am not!" Ruby said again

"Yes, you are." Yang said

"Am not!"

"Yes you are!"

Before they knew it, they began rough housing each other.

"Ruby! Yang!" Weiss said, trying to separate them, "You two are not making a good first impression!"

Blake sighs, not bearing to watch the two sisters squabble. She opens her book and starts reading, showing zero interest on what's going on. As Gavin and Marco awkwardly watched the two sisters brawl, Stephen took this opportunity to break the ice with Blake.

"Nice book." Stephen said.

"Umm... Thanks." Blake said, still reading.

"I think I've read that before." Stephen said, "It's about two lovers separated from their family members, right?"

"Yeah..." Blake responded, looking up from her book, "How do you know that?"

"It may have been awhile," Stephen said, "but I used to read books a lot, like that one."

Blake smiled, knowing that someone here in Beacon shares has the same love for literature as she does. Ruby and Yang stop fighting, trying to see where this was going. Suddenly, the bell rings.

"Bro," Gavin said, outing his hand on Stephen's shoulder, "it's time."

"Right." he said, "We must prepare for tomorrow. Now, Ozpin told us that someone will spar with us to help train us for tomorrow. Marco, who is it?" Marco looked at the letter, trying to find out what Ozpin wrote them.

"Okay." Marco said, putting down the letter.

"Well," Stephen asked, "who is it?"

"Them." Marco said, pointing to the girls.

"Oh, now I remember!" Ruby said, "Yesterday, Ozpin told us that we would be training the new team for their initiation."

"Sounds like a plan." Yang said.

"When you guys are ready, meet us at the Challenge Dome." Ruby said, "See you guys later."

Team RWBY leaves, leaving team SMG to huddle up and discuss their strategy.

"Sis," Yang said, putting her arm on her sister's shoulder, "you're goanna get what you get what you wanted, a new challenge."

"Yeah, sis." Ruby said, as they walked away.

"We're here!" Stephen said as they entered the seemingly empty Challenge Dome.

"Alright," Marco said, readying his weapon, "we know you're here. Now, show yourselves!"

Marco's voice then started to echo around the arena, triggering a flurry of whispers coming from the top of the arena.

"Very funny, girls!" Gavin said, looking around the dark arena.

Suddenly, a blast of fire comes out of the darkness, striking the arena torches and illuminating the arena.

"Whoa!" Stephen said surprised by what happened.

"So glad you guys can make it." Ruby said, coming into view, holding her "sweetheart" Crescent Rose behind her back. Weiss, Blake and Yang appeared into view, next to Ruby with their weapons ready.

"Ready?" they asked. The three nodded at each other, signifying that they're ready. The girls come charging at them as Team SMG prepare their weapons.

"Guys!" Stephen called, "Ursa strategy! Now!"

The three split up, with Stephen entering the darkness. Marco turns his katana, Edge Shadow, into its minigun form and starts firing at Weiss. She guards using a glyph shield, protecting her teammates behind her. Gavin, on the other hand, turns his rifle, Bakunawa, into trident form and throws it at Ruby. She parries the oncoming attack and Bakunawa ends up on the floor. Seizing this, Gavin activates his semblance and Bakunawa starts to arise and attack Ruby again. Ruby parries, but Gavin continues to use his semblance at her, tiring her out. Blake then interferes by firing Gambol Shroud at Gavin. Stephen then comes into the fray and blocks Blake's attack. Taking this opportunity, Yang goes in from the side, where Stephen isn't blocking and also where Gavin is exposed. She prepares to fire Ember Celica, but she is blocked by...Stephen! She looks to see that Stephen is still guarding Gavin. Stephen then points over to the other Stephen, showing that it dispersed as Gavin reclaims Bakunawa and returns it into rifle mode. Yang is surprised, but she figures out what happened.

"Semblance?" she asked.

Stephen nods, pulls out his mace, Crusher and strikes Yang with it, but she dodges the oncoming strike. Marco's weapon then runs out of ammo and is forced to reload. As he pulls out an ammo belt from his back, Weiss deactivates her glyph shield and charges towards Marco. Before she could strike, Marco suddenly disappears, confusing Weiss. Marco then returns to view, striking Weiss with Edge Shadow now in its katana form. She blocks and evades the second strike and unleashes a bolt of lightning at Marco. Marco disappears again and tries to flank Weiss from behind. She senses his presence and shoots a blast of fire from Myrtenaster. Marco creates an ice shield using Edge Shadow's Dust abilities. _Copy cat, _Weiss thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Stephen fires using his gun-shield, Vorpal, at Yang, but she dodges the oncoming bullets as she lands next to her sister, who is still assisting Blake against Gavin.

"I thought this was sparring!" Yang said, firing at Stephen.

"That's what I thought too, sis." Ruby said.

Stephen then activates Crusher's spikes, which launch themselves from the mace and penetrating the ground in several places around the arena. "Heads up!" Stephen yelled, as he shoots the ground using Vorpal, launching him upward to a balcony. Marco then jumps as high as he can and stabs Edge Shadow on the ceiling. Gavin throws Bakunawa on the ceiling then pulls himself there using his semblance. Stephen points Crusher downward, revealing a button on the hilt.

"Sorry, girls..." Stephen said as he pressed the button. Suddenly, Crusher's spikes start emitting electrical waves, electrocuting the arena floor and the girls. "What the hell?!" Weiss said as she tried to withstand the pain of the electrical currents. Blake fire Gambol Shroud to another empty balcony and pulls herself there. Ruby and Yang fire their weapons on the ground, launching them to the balcony. Weiss jumps and creates several glyph platforms leading to the balcony.

"Okay, guys!" Ruby yelled to the other balcony where Stephen is, "We give!"

"I knew it." Gavin said, hanging from the ceiling.

"Call off the spikes, Stephen." Marco said, also hanging from the ceiling.

Stephen pushes the button at the bottom and the spikes stop emitting electricity and with the push of another button on the hilt, the spikes return to Crusher's sphere, recreating the mace. The girls drop down back to the floor as well as the guys, unequipping their weapons.

"Sorry about that, girls..." Stephen said, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry?!" Weiss yelled, switching to her bitchy attitude, "You three nearly killed us with your tactics and then shock us with electricity, which almost killed us, and you guys expect an apology?!"

"Weiss," Yang said, putting her hand on her shoulder, "calm down."

Ruby then walks towards the three with a very firm look. As they prepare for the biggest slap of their lives, SMG closes their eyes in anticipation. But, unexpectedly, Ruby hugs them. The three boys look at each other in confusion, wondering why they weren't slapped.

"Umm..." Gavin said as Ruby let go of them.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ruby said, enthusiastically.

"What?" Weiss said, surprised.

"Think about it," Ruby explained, "we faced an opponent we couldn't defeat and even though we lost, we still cooperated as a team and tried our best to beat them. Remember, Ozpin told us to spar with them to see if their teamwork and skills are ready and with what just happened earlier, I say that they're ready."

"Well said, Ms. Rose." A voice from behind said. They turn to see Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda Goodwitch who were watching the battle on a scroll.

"All of you guys displayed remarkable skill in the field, as well as great teamwork." Ozpin commented, "It doesn't matter who won or who lost, what matters is what you displayed in the field and what you do in order to take down the enemy. For that, I am proud of both of you." Glynda then turned to Team SMG.

"Your initiation will begin at ten o'clock sharp." she said, "Get some rest, eat, sleep, chat and practice so that by tomorrow, you'll be ready."

She then handed them a note on where their dorm room is along with their locker numbers. Ozpin and Glynda depart as the two teams high-five each other, signifying that the bond between RWBY and SMG has been formed and it will last. They return to their dorms, ready for a long rest and what is to come tomorrow.

End of Chapter 1

Chapter 2, soon to come! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. I just made the fan fic.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Acceptance

Breakfast time at Beacon, the time of the day where students usually try to plan ahead, except for Team SMG. After their long rest, Team SMG and Team RWBY sit together for breakfast, while Team SMG heavily eats their breakfast.

"Looks like you guys haven't eaten ever since you got here." Blake commented.

"Well," Gavin said, "it wasn't such a short trip from Sphere all the way to Beacon."

He was right; Sphere is located in farther kingdom, seven hundred and thirty miles away from Vale. It takes about a four hour trip to get there and in those four hours, Team SMG hasn't eaten since. Stephen looked at his watch. His eyes suddenly widened and he choked on his coffee.

"Oh, crap!" he said, "Prof. Goodwitch told us that our initiation begins at 10! We have fifteen freaking minutes!"

As soon as they heard this, the three began to eat a lot faster. From another table, Team JNPR looks over at Team RWBY's table and awkwardly watches Team SMG eat.

"Who're those guys?" Jaune asked his friends.

"I think they're the new students from Sphere." Pyrrha answered.

"They seem awful jumpy today." Ren said.

"Let's go and see what they're like!" Nora said.

She skips merrily to the table as her teammates reluctantly follow her.

"Hi there, Nora." Ruby said as soon as she saw Nora.

"Hi guys!" she said, still putting her attention on Team SMG.

"I see you haven't met them yet." Ruby said, "That's Stephen, Marco and Gavin. They're new here in Beacon."

"Ooo..." Nora said as she grabbed Stephen's weapon. "Hey!" he said, trying to get it back from her.

"Forgive her," Ren said, rushing in, "She just gets very jumpy around new people."

"It's okay, bro." Stephen said, "Just stop her!"

"Nora!" Ren yelled. In an instant, Nora returned Crusher and stood by Ren.

"I guess you guys must be the other team Ozpin mentioned." Marco said.

"Yeah." Jaune said as he came, "We're Team JNPR. I'm Jaune Arc; the red head is my friend, Pyrrha Nikos. The girl you just met is Nora Valkyrie and the guy in green is-"

"Lie Ren." Gavin said, interrupting Jaune.

"Oh, Gavin." Ren said, "I wasn't expecting to see you here. New teammates now, huh?"

"Whoa! Wait, guys!" Jaune said, waving his hands, "You know that guy, Ren?"

"Yeah." Gavin said, responding to Jaune's question, "We used to be duo back in Sphere, before I met Stephen and Marco. He then graduated ahead and I filled the gap with Stephen and Marco, booting him from our old team. Right, Ren?"

"Right..." Ren said, scratching his hair.

"I didn't notice you two knew each other." Ruby said.

"It's been a year since I left the old gang back at Sphere," Ren said, "and I can hardly remember what happened during my graduation. All I know is that Nora and I both got to Beacon at the same time."

"And I was so happy that we both graduated on the same day and entered Beacon together!" Nora said, softly punching her best friend's arm. Stephen checked his watch again and choked on his coffee again.

"We only have five minutes to get to the cliffs!" Stephen said.

With blurring speed, the three boys dashed out of the cafeteria.

"They seemed time manageable." Pyrrha said as they watched.

"Want to go see how their initiation turns out?" Ruby asked her teammates.

"Sure, why not." Yang answered. They then follow Team SMG to the cliffs.

At the cliffs, Team SMG overlooks the gorgeous scenery of The Emerald Forest. Even though the forest itself is beautiful, the forest floor is crawling with the Creatures of Grimm. Even from the area of the cliffs, they can hear the roars of the Grimm, signifying that it won't be easy to conquer what lies below.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Blake said from behind the guys. The guys yelled, surprised by Blake.

"You know you could just walk over to us instead of sneaking up on us!" Marco yelled.

"Sorry," Blake said, "but I don't really do the straight forward kind of approach. Sneaking up on people is more of my thing."

"Right..." Gavin said, giving her a firm look, "Anyways, we have to prepare. Ozpin will be here soon."

Blake nodded then went over to a rock where she could read her book. As Marco was creating a new ammo belt for Edge Shadow and Gavin was busy sharpening Bakunawa, Stephen went over to a somewhat lonely Blake.

"Shouldn't your teammates be here?" he asked, trying to break the ice once more with her.

"They'll be here." Blake said, still reading, "I just got here first."

"Well," Stephen said, "I couldn't help but notice how lonely you are. Is there something that's troubling you?"

"No." Blake said, still reading, "It just helps me think when I'm alone."

"Yeah," Stephen said, sitting beside Blake, "I know how you feel."

She suddenly looked up from her book and turned to Stephen.

"You do?" she asked.

"Yeah." Stephen said, "Back then I used to be quite lonely. It always felt hard to socialize with other people and I had to wait for them to socialize with me. It wasn't long before I started to impress them with my skills and it never failed to amuse them." He turned to Blake, "Weren't you like that before?" he asked.

"No..."she said, looking down at the ground, "I was a very different person back then and my past is too grave to talk about. Explaining it to one person was already tough, even though he couldn't see how tough it was for me explaining. Doing that a second time... I don't know what it'll do to me."

Stephen placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Blake," he said, "the past is an old photograph. It becomes very controversial at first, but as time goes by, the photograph becomes less of an importance and eventually, everyone forgets it, sometimes even the photographer. Blake, whatever happened in the past, no matter if you were in the photograph or the photographer is of no importance anymore. Just put it behind you or better yet, learn from it."

Blake was touched by Stephen's words. For once in her life, she met someone who shared her sentiment of loneliness and was able to learn from it. She never learnt enough from her past deeds, but because of Stephen, she will finally be able to put her past behind her.

"Thanks..." Blake said, slightly shedding a tear.

"I'm sure you can put this advice to good use." Stephen said, smiling, "Also, I'll be looking forward to great year with a girl like you."

He went back to regroup with his team. Blake blushed at the thought of what Stephen said, but she shook it off and continued to read her book. In the nick of time, Ozpin and Glynda show up.

"Gentlemen," Ozpin greeted, "your initiation begins today." He then gestures to a row of metal platforms. "Please place yourselves on any of these platforms." he said. The trio arrange themselves according to their team name. Marco puts on a ninja mask and Gavin sets up a gauntlet on his arm.

"Today," Glynda said, "you'll begin the initiation that will help you three be accepted into Beacon. During the time of your initiation, various Creatures of Grimm will not hesitate to kill you three. Use any tactic necessary to stay alive, even if it means destroying the forest." Ozpin then takes over for Glynda.

"In a marked cave," he said, "I have placed an untaken relic during the previous initiation, which is the White Queen Chess piece. Once you've taken the relic, you are bound to take care of it until you return to the cliffs. As for landing into the forest, that'll be up to you to decide how you're going to land. Good luck."

Suddenly, the trio are launched into the air via the metal platforms. After the launch, Ruby, Yang and Weiss appeared into the fray.

"Aw, darn!" Ruby said as she panted, "We missed the launch!"

"Do they have a landing strategy?" Weiss asked.

"We'll see." Blake said, smiling.

Team SMG's descent continues. Marco readies Edge Shadow as he comes to an incoming tree. He stabs the tree and safely rides his way down to the ground. Gavin on the other hand, throws Bakunawa downwards and goes after it with his semblance. Stephen fires Vorpal forward, carefully not trying to shoot his friends. He then fires it backwards as neared the ground, giving him a much needed speed boost. He lands safely and gracefully on the ground, regrouping with his friends. In front them, glowing red eyes illuminated the dark undergrowth of the bushes. They prepared their weapons as the creatures lunged at them.

From the cliffs, just thirty minutes after Team SMG landed in the forest, Team RWBY watches the carnage unfold at the forest floor. Smoke arose from the trees as the howls and cries of dying Grimms echoed around the forest.

"Sheesh!" Ruby said, overlooking the carnage, "Do they have to create all that carnage?"

"Maybe." Weiss said, "Besides everyone has to do what it takes to survive, even if it means burning down the entire forest."

"Hey!" Ruby retorted, "What happened last time was no accident."

"Guys." Yang said, stopping Ruby, "Let's not fight. Besides we're suppose to cheer them as they fight for their lives!"

"You know they can't hear us from all the way here, Yang." Blake said.

Meanwhile, Ozpin and Glynda watch the carnage on their Scrolls.

"That's the fortieth Beowolf they've managed to decapitate." Glynda noted, "So far, they have killed forty Beowolves, thirty Ursa, twenty Boarbatusk, five King Taijutu, two Death Stalkers and a Nevermore in no more than thirty minutes."

"I see." Ozpin said, overlooking the carnage.

Team SMG soon arrives at the cave, barely exhausted from the previous killings they just did.

"If we keep this up," Gavin said, observing the extreme damage they just did, "there'll be hardly a single Grimm in the forest."

They fist bump each other and enter the cave. Inside the cave was nothing but an empty, rocky floor. There were no stalagmites on the ceiling and a large hole overlooked the cave from the ceiling. On the other side of the cave was a large abyss and standing on the edge was a small pillar where the relic is standing.

"Careful, Stephen." Gavin said, "There could be something underground, so be careful with each step. Don't let your guard down."

Stephen nodded and took a step forward. He slowly moves towards the pillar, carefully observing his surroundings. He loads Vorpal and studies the pillar. It seemed old and mossy, but looks can be deceiving and he convinces himself that the pillar is a trap. He reaches out for the Chess piece, sweating as his heart beated like a drum. Gavin and Marco ready their weapons in anticipation as Stephen's hand reaches out for the relic. Stephen closed his eyes and grabs the relic. He opens them again to see that nothing happened. The pillar didn't sink into the ground, the cave floor didn't give away and no Grimm appeared in front of their faces.

"Well that seemed easy." Stephen said, looking at the relic in his hands.

"Let's go, bro!" Gavin said gesturing to the exit.

Stephen placed the relic in his satchel and begins to walk towards his friends. Then, from the abyss, a large robotic arm ascends from the darkness and crushes the pillar. Stephen turns to see a giant mechanical droid reveal itself to the three. It stood tall, very tall, it carried two gattling cannons on both of it's shoulders and a large plasma cannon on it's back. It was designed very futuristically, but it had enormous details of rust and cracks, signifying that it had been used before and was left to rust here. But it didn't make any sense to the trio. How did this mechanical abomination end up here? That was the question in their minds, but it didn't matter. In front of them was just another pile of junk waiting to be destroyed and dismantled. Gavin and Marco went closer to Stephen looking up at the droid's face.

"Grimm..." it said, trying to form a sentence.

"Grimm...Grimm...Grimm... presence detected!" it said, "Kill Grimms! DESTROY GRIMMS!"

"Why is this hunk of junk mistaking us for Grimms?" Gavin asked Stephen.

"I have no idea." He answered.

"Let's just destroy this thing and get back to the cliffs!" Marco told them. He then started to cough a bit.

"Dude," Gavin said, "remember your illness, try to keep yourself under control."

Marco gestured an okay sign and looked back at the droid. The droid started to use his gattling cannons to try and kill them. The trio parries al the bullets and charge at the large droid. Gavin switches Bakunawa to it's trident form and throws it to the droid's chest. The trident runs through the chest's tough armour and deeply penetrates the chest. Gavin uses his semblance to pull the trident, but the robot punches him, sending him flying onto the cave wall. Marco pulls off quick and powerful slashes at the droid's only arm, but they kept bouncing off. Stephen tries launching Crusher's spikes, but they do very little effect as they just bounced off. It seemed that the droid was built to withstand the might of the Grimm, making it almost invincible. The droid fires it's plasma cannons and sets off bolts of explosions all over the cave floor. The team looks up at the droid's glowing red eyes, signifying that the team has met their match.

"Ozpin!" Glynda said, watching the battle unfold in her scroll, "Call off your robot! I don't think those three are ready for this kind of combat." "Yeah!" Ruby said, who was also watching the battle on Ozpin's scroll, "They won't survive! Call it off professor!" "I can't." Ozpin said, with much anxiety in his voice, "I don't even know where this droid came from. How can I call off something I do not own?" "What should we do?" Weiss asked, showing concern. "All we can do is watch and wait." Ozpin told them as Ruby and Weiss exchange a worried look.

The robot menacingly stood over the trio, displaying great power and defence against the trio's attacks.

"Crap!" Stephen yells, just after he banged Crusher at the robot's arm, hardly making a dent at all. Gavin, on the other hand, was still trying to pull off Bakunawa from the droid's chest, but the droid kept knocking him off and stopping him from reclaiming his weapon. Marco used up already up to three ammo belts just trying to pierce the droid's thick armour and so far, no bullet holes.

"None of this is working!" Marco said to Stephen, who was standing next to him.

He coughed for a bit as Stephen observed the droid. Gavin then jumps over to the chest in which he tries to pull off Bakunawa manually. The droid tries to crush him, but he pulls out his weapon in time just as the giant mechanical fist was about to hit him. As Gavin jumps off, the droid hits it's chest, creating a much needed dent in the center.

"Guys!" Stephen said, as his teammates regrouped with him, "Did you see that?"

They nod as the droid struggles to get itself back into the game. They ready their weapons as the droid continues to pin it's focus on the trio. The droid fires his Gattling cannons at them, but Gavin uses Bakunawa's special attack in which he activates his gauntlet and Bakunawa starts spraying out thunder and lightning from the tip of the trident. The droid is enveloped with lightning to the face as Marco and Stephen near the dented chest. Stephen throws himself upward and starts banging the dent with Crusher. He continues to bang the dent until a hole appeared on the droid's chest. The droid flicks Stephen off it's chest and tries to crush him, but is countered by Gavin thunder blast and Marco striking the arm using Edge Shadow. Marco then focuses his attention on the hole Stephen made. The droid sees his advance and fires his Gattling cannons at him, but Marco parries the bullets and jumps into the hole. Marco switches his weapon's mode from katana to minigun form. In the middle is barrel where at the end, was a hole. Marco clipped a gas tank filled with red Dust at the end of the barrel and pulled the trigger behind the tank. Edge Shadow now started to emit flames all over the droid's body, burning it's circuitry, but to the droid, it just seemed like tickling it's insides. The droid reaches inside it's chest, pulls out Marco and throws him to the floor. Marco gets up to see that his recent action barely damaged the droid's innards and circuits. "None of our techniques our working!" Stephen said. "Damn right, bro." Gavin said. Stephen looked up at the droid. He noticed that the plasma cannon was falling off and that the twin Gattling cannons were from the side of the head. He also looked at the hole; there, he noticed that the core was deep within the droid's body and it seemed to be connected to the head. "Guys!" he said, as his comrades came to him. Stephen turned to Gavin.

"Gavin," Stephen said, "aim for the head. The droid's miniguns are connected to the head, meaning they're controlled by the head's sensors. If you pull down the head, the wires could jam the guns and, therefore, deemed useless."

He then turned to Marco.

"Marco." Stephen said, "The droid has only one arm, but it always uses it to counter our assaults. Try to cut off the arm through the wires, that way, it can't harm us anymore."

Stephen reloaded Vorpal with a different colour magazine and looked at the droid.

"I'll aim for the core and finish off this bitch once and for all."

Stephen said as his teammates nodded in unison. They charge at the droid, weapons ready. The droid fires more rounds off his miniguns, but is quickly parried and blocked by Stephen and Marco. Gavin throws Bakunawa at the droid's head, but it didn't go all the way through like the last time. He brings himself up there using his semblance, grabs hold of the trident and jabs it deeper into the droid's head. He leaps off and uses his semblance to pull the droid's head downward. As what Stephen said, the droid's shoulder cannons deactivate and start spewing out black smoke. Marco creates one huge strike at the rusty wires and they eventually snap, detaching the arm and deemed useless. The droid couldn't attack anymore and tried to struggle to break itself free. Stephen jumps into the huge, gaping hole on the droid's chest. Inside, he runs into the deeper mechanisms of the droid until he finds the core. Stephen fires Crusher's spikes at the core and electrocutes it while he's firing Vorpal around the core. Outside Stephen's view, the droid's plasma cannon falls off and explosions start to appear around the droid. The miniguns on his shoulder begin to explode while sparks fly from the wires and it's rusty skin begins to fall apart. Before the droid can fall into the abyss, Stephen escapes through the hole and lands in front of his teammates, who're exhausted. They watch the droid fall into the abyss as they pant.

"Sayonara, Rust Bucket!" Gavin yells as the droid falls into the abyss. They look at each other and gave themselves a thumbs-up for finally killing that hunk of junk. "Well," Marco said, "that was something."

"Agreed, bro." Stephen said.

He looks in his satchel to see that the Chess piece is still okay and untouched. They exit the cave, leaving nothing but a crumbling ceiling, a ruined floor and a pile of rubble.

"Well done, boys!" Ozpin said.

Team SMG returns to the cliffs, where they greeted by cheers from Team RWBY. Marco removes his ninja mask and wipes his forehead and sighs in relief that they're finally done.

"You three," Ozpin said to the boys, "have shown truly remarkable skills that definitely qualify you three to be accepted in Beacon. This is truly an honour for you three to be in this prestigious academy."

"Thank you, professor." Stephen said, smiling though he's incredibly exhausted.

"Yay!" Yang yelled as she jumped enthusiastically, "We have a new team in Beacon!"

"Last one to the cafeteria is a rotten egg!" Ruby said as she ran. They followed her, trying to keep up with her pace, especially Team SMG.

'This is it,' Ruby thought to herself, 'A new has arrived. I won't let my plan fail mom. I promise.'

-End of Chapter 2-

Author's notes: Hi guys! Right now I'm just trying my best to finish the rest of this fan fic, but right now, trying to finish chapter three is the only thing on my to-do list so yeah, it's gonna take awhile. I appreciate reviews, bad or good. It helps me decide whether to continue with this fic or not. Thanks and happy holidays every one :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Beauty and the Beast

A typical Friday afternoon here in Vale, just like any other Friday for the Beacon students, just not for Teams RWBY and SMG. With the Vytal Festival coming, possibly a week from now, Weiss decided to get herself ready for the upcoming festivities. Hell, she was too excited that she even dragged Team SMG to come with her. Right now she's taking the two teams to one of Vale's most promising Dust bazaar: The Schnee Dust Co. Dust Bazaar (SDCDB). Here, Dust mind from the company quarries are sold here for reasonable prices as preparation for the upcoming Vytal Festival and with Weiss as the heiress of the company, she is usually offered free or discounted Dust.

"Remind me again why we're here?" Gavin asked.

"I'm also wondering," Stephen said, "I mean, we still have plenty of Dust back at our dorms. Why do we have to come with you?"

"Because," Weiss explained, in her know-it-all tone, "with the Vytal festival coming up, I need the support of my teammates and my teammate's friends for the festival and I thought coming here will be a great idea for us to boost our team spirits. Also, my weapon's out of Dust. Trust me, guys, you'll love it."

"Yeah," Blake whispered to Stephen, "if you love dying of boredom."

Stephen giggled at the thought of it. At the bazaar, the guys marvel at the Dust, since Weiss called the dust here as "quality" Dust for obvious reasons. Ruby comes across a stall which was selling Dust-loaded ammo. She looked at the bullets and to her surprise; she found bullets that were in the same casing as her bullets. She picked up one of them and examined it.

"Like those, young lady?" asked the shop owner, "They're genuine and hard to produce nowadays. They are loaded with the powdered version of the Dark Red Dust Crystal. If shot, they produce crude red blast at the enemy, causing some kind of mini explosion. I noticed your bullets. Did you have those before?"

"I did," she answered, "but, for some reason, I stopped using them."

"Well," the shopkeeper said, "for twenty Lien, I can offer you a full cartridge of these bullets."

Ruby thought for a moment then said: "I'll take three."

"Done!" the shopkeeper said as he reached for a box containing cartridges of the bullets.

While the others enjoy or, more likely, browse the various Dust at the bazaar, Marco looks around and notices a club, in which a hooded man wearing a black overcoat along with two bodyguards in ninja attire, enter. Marco noticed something; it was the red wolf marking on the back of their clothes.

"White Fang." Marco said, slowly.

"What's going on?" Yang asked, who approached Marco just awhile ago.

"Get the guys here." He said.

Yang nodded and ran off, ready to regroup both teams. Marco continues to spectate the entrance. No one has escaped the club yet and not a single gunshot was heard.

'Seems to me that White Fang has some unfinished business to take care of.' Marco thought to himself.

"We're here," Ruby said as everyone else gathered, wondering what's going on, "what's going on?"

"You guys don't like the White Fang, right?" Marco asked the girls.

"Sort of." Ruby awkwardly said

"Definitely!" Weiss answered with an angry look on her face.

"You bet." Blake said, crossing her arms

"Maybe, but yeah, sure." Yang answered, putting her hands on her hip.

"I'll just take those as a yes." Marco said.

"What's going on, dude?" Stephen asked.

"I just saw three White Fang guys go into that club." Marco told them, "They must be doing something big."

"That's Junior's place." Yang pointed out, "I interrogated him there for whereabouts of someone, but I ain't telling you who."

"Should we go in?" Blake asked.

"I say we should." Stephen said, cocking Vorpal.

"Wait," Weiss said, "This Junior person knows Yang and going in there with her will turn us into a death magnet!"

"I have an idea!" Ruby said, pointing her finger up in the air.

She removes her cloak, clips it to her sister and pulls the hood up. "There," Ruby said, "you have a disguise now!" The others nodded at the each other, satisfied with the disguise. They then approach the club, ready to see what surprise waits inside.

Inside the club was nothing but a large dance floor with several strobing lights above it and glass pillars all over. To the north was a balcony in which the DJ played the music. There were a ton of visitors at the club, so it was best for the two teams not to do anything stupid.

"Sis," Ruby said, "you stay low. We'll split up and look for this White Fang goon."

Ruby took Stephen, Gavin and Weiss with her while Yang stuck next to Blake and Marco. Ruby looked around; she noticed that the club had tons of black suited henchmen watching over the place. 'Why would a club need this much security?' Ruby thought to herself. They approached the bar where they found the hooded White Fang member. He was speaking to a bearded man with two girls, one in red and one in green, behind him. Ruby leaned in closer, with her teammates behind her as she listened to the two's conversation.

"Look," the bearded man said, "The Dust is over there and I have the money! There's no need to destroy my place!"

"We gave you enough time to fish the money, Junior" the hooded Faunus told him, "but you just passed the deadline."

The hooded Faunus pulls up a ninjato from his hilt and on to the man's neck. His two bodyguards, the two girls, attempted to attack the hooded Faunus, but were stopped by the Faunus' bodyguards.

"C'mon, just give me another chance!" Junior begged

"Too late. You had your chance and you failed." The Faunus told him.

Before he could slit his throat, a voice was heard from the other side of the club. "Hey!" a henchman said, pulling off Yang's hood and realized who he just yelled at. "Oh, shit!" the henchman cried, "It's you! The girl that destroyed this club months ago!"

"Oh," Yang giggled, "I'm so glad you remember me."

She knocked out the henchman, forcing everyone on the dance floor to run away. Yang takes off the hood and approaches Junior, and Junior recognized her as well.

"Well, well." Junior said as he knees the Faunus on the gut and breaking free of the Faunus' grip, "If it isn't the little blonde that trashed my club just days after it was opened."

"Hey," Yang said, "I was just asking for information! Then you and little buddies had to come over and try to kill me."

"Well then," Junior said, pulling his batzooka in bat form out of his back, "it's about time I took some revenge."

Junior attacks Yang, but she guards with her gauntlets. His bodyguards come over to help him but are stopped by the others. As the two teams fought against Junior and his men, the Faunus got up and called in his two bodyguards. He looked around the club and noticed Blake, fighting off two henchmen with axes.

"Blake!" the Faunus called out. After Blake knocked out the last henchman, she turned towards the hooded Faunus. Under realization, her eyes filled up with sadness as she looked at him.

"Adam?" she asked the Faunus. The Faunus removed his hood, revealing red hair, horns and an eye mask that sort of resembled the Grimm's face mask. Blake was right; it was indeed her old partner during her days in the White Fang, Adam Taurus, the Faunus she clearly cared about. His face, bringing back memories.

"So good to see you again, Blake." Adam said, approaching a distraught Blake.

"Adam. I-I thought I'd never see you again." Blake told him, fear and sadness increasing.

"That's what you thought." He said, bringing up Blake's face, "You see, after you left me, it gave me time to think about our friendship and seems that you couldn't just stop thinking about other people."

He pulled out his weapon, Blush, and fired at Blake. She dodged the bullet as well as the other shots fired by Adam. Blake then brings out a sheathed Gambol Shroud.

"Adam," she said, "I left you for a reason. You cared so little about other people. You think they'll be around to see us change history when they're already dead?!"

"You believed in the rights of us Faunus, right Blake?" Adam told her, "Do you think those worthless bags of shit have the right to push us around?" Adam then fired another round at Blake

"I know how you feel, Adam." Blake said, dodging the shot, "But even though they treated us like shit, they still have no right to suffer and we have no right to make them suffer also!"

"Then you're lost!" Adam yelled. He turned to his two bodyguards

"Kill her." He commanded, "And bring me her cat ears after doing so."

The two bodyguards clashed with Blake, both parts of Gambol Shroud, the sheath and the sword, clashing with the blades of the bodyguards. The sound of clashing metal mad her bow twitch.

"Guys!" Blake called, "I could use some help here!"

Ruby slashed away the last bodyguard using Crescent Rose. Rose petals came out of his body as well as Crescent Rose.

"Don't worry, Blake!" she cried out, "I'm coming!" Ruby then rushed towards Blake, Crescent Rose in hand.

Stephen was still in lock with the girl in red, both of their weapons in deep lock with each other. He then positioned Vorpal at her waist and fired. The force sent the girl flying and crashing into one of the glass pillars.

"Hold on!" Stephen said.

He then creates a clone using his semblance and sends it to help out Blake. The clone and Ruby combined their attacks, with the clone swinging Crusher at them and Ruby shooting them with Crescent Rose, and took out both of the bodyguards. Adam takes aim at the clone and fires at it, dispersing the clone. Ruby glares at Adam and switches Crescent Rose to it's rifle form, firing round after round at the Faunus, but he seemed to just dodge the bullets with ease. Blake attacks Adam with her weapon only to have herself in a lock with him. The two struggled, pushing their blades on either one's neck. On the other side of the club, Yang finishes off Junior with a powerful punch to the face, knocking him out of consciousness.

"Ha! Lights out, bitch!" Yang said as she cocked Ember Celica.

As the others finish off their opponents, they come over to aid Blake in her struggle. Adam notices the approaching heroes coming towards them; he smiles at Blake before he knees her in the stomach. He sheaths his weapon and turns to Blake.

"We'll see each other again soon, Blake." Adam said.

In those words, he jumped onto the skylight and disappeared from view. The others come just in time to watch the Faunus disappear.

"Blake," Ruby said, "who was that?"

Blake didn't respond. She looked up and sheds a tear as memories start returning, mostly that of the bad ones. She turned over to Team SMG, who looked worried over what just happened. Blake sighs as she approached the three. She remembered how hard it was to reveal her secret to her friends, but she never imagined revealing her secret to people she just got to know.

"Ahem," Blake said, "Stephen, Marco, Gavin, I have to tell you three something. Please just don't get mad at me after I tell you."

"Blake, no!" Ruby said, intervening, "You promised yourself not to tell anyone else about your secret."

"Well, I have no choice." Blake said, "If I don't, there is no reason for them to question about Adam or who he worked for."

She placed her fingers at the two endpoints of her bow and tugged them. As soon as the bow came off, a pair of purple cat ears came into view. She looked over to Team SMG and they looked surprised to what they just saw. She takes a deep breath and begins to explain.

"Guys," she said to a surprised Team SMG, "I'm not what you thought the first time you met me. Yes, I'm a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang. I was once part of the organization that now tears up Vale. You have every right to be mad at me, but just know that I stand here as the person you met two days ago, not as a White Fang member."

The three teammates exchanged glances at each other before turning over to a saddened Blake. Her teammates also exchanged worried looks at each other, trying to see how this will turn out.

"But," Stephen said, turning over to Blake, "why should we be mad at you? You're a Faunus and we have no reason to be angry at you."

"Huh?" Blake said, along with her teammates who also looked surprised.

"For your information," Gavin said, "Me and the guys are part of a Faunus activist group, who are humans who dedicate their time to protecting the Faunus from discrimination from others and the White Fang. We believe that Faunus have rights to be part of society, but others don't see it. So our group took action to solve that problem. So to exact, since you're a Faunus, we respect that and will protect your heritage."

Blake was touched. She first thought that her new friends wouldn't accept her as a Faunus and start treating her badly, but it turns out as the opposite. Her new found friends actually have sympathy for the Faunus and will protect her from the bad things that people say onto others of her race. Blake sheds a tear as she looked at her friends.

"Thank you guys." She said, giving Team SMG a smile. The trio smile back and then looked back up at the shattered sky light.

"So," Marco asked, "who was that guy, Blake?"

"His name's Adam Taurus." She answered, "He was my partner during my time in the White Fang. We were part of the covert operations team that led secret attacks and assassinations. I left him during our last mission, on a Schnee Dust Company cargo train."

"Wait!" Weiss interrupted, "That was you?!"

"Weiss," Ruby said, putting her hand on Weiss' shoulder, "Remember, she's no longer in league with them and we have to forget about her past actions."

"Right..." Weiss said, calming herself down.

"But," Blake said, "I don't understand why they were here in a club in the middle of downtown Vale and involving themselves with some underground criminal."

Suddenly, Junior got up and tried to walk out of here, but Gavin activates Bakunawa and fires at his feet. The shot startles him as he lands on Yang's arms.

"Alright, Junior," Yang said, holding up Junior, "What was White Fang doing here?"

"Heh!" he said with snug grin on his face, "You'll never get me to talk. Not even a-". Before he can finish, Yang viciously garbs his groin (again).

"Oh, crap!" he said, groaning.

"Doesn't this bring back memories, Junior?" Yang giggled, "Now talk!"

"Ok! Ok!" he said, "I had the twins steal about 20 crates of Dust from the White Fang instillation here in Vale. They found out and told me to pay for it. 1700 Lien all in all or else they destroy my club."

"Why did you need that much Dust?" Yang asked, squeezing his groin even harder.

"I was told to build a weapon." Junior answered, still groaning from the pain, "A weapon that was meant to destroy the White Fang instillation here."

"Who told you do that?!" Yang asked, squeezing his groin even harder.

"I don't know!" Junior groaned, "Some woman in red told me to do so!"

"Okay, that's all we need to know." Yang said, letting go of Junior and his groin. Junior sighs in relief, but when he looked up, Yang knocks him out with a powerful punch.

"Hey, guys!" Ruby called out after opening one of the doors next to the bar.

Inside was a large cannon that looked unfinished as well as the twenty crates of Dust that Junior was talking about. Each crate was only about the size of a small chair, but it looked like it could contain more than twenty Dust crystals.

"They're all labelled by the company." Weiss said, observing the crates, "The White Fang must've been taken from the cargo train going through Forever Fall. The one you probably raided, Blake"

"How do you know that?" Blake asked.

"These crates are marked with a schedule," Weiss said, pointing to a piece of paper taped to the crate, "All Schnee Dust Company deliveries are marked with these so that we can keep tabs on our deliveries."

"Shouldn't we return these crates, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Yup." Weiss answered, "I'm sure these crates of overdue Dust will help restock the bazaar."

"That's not such a bad idea." Stephen said.

They then took out all of the crates from the club and gave it to the various shopkeepers around the Schnee Dust Co. Bazaar, just as soon as the police come into scene.

The two teams finally return to Beacon, all exhausted from their trip in the city. It was 6 o'clock and they were looking forward to dinner and a lot of rest. Just before they could enter the academy, Jaune rushes past them, seemingly in a hurry.

"Jaune!" Ruby called out, "What's going on?"

"Free Hunt slips are out!" Jaune yelled over as he ran.

"Free Hunt?!" Ruby said.

"Oh, brother..." Yang said, crossing her arms as she watches Ruby dash away with blurring speed.

"What's Free Hunt?" Gavin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Free Hunt," Yang began to explain, "is a two hour hunting trip students here in Beacon spend to battle Grimms in any Grimm-infested area. It's a new training course Headmaster Ozpin gave to have the students self-teach themselves on Grimm Combat."

"Sounds like my kind of training." Stephen said, cocking his weapon.

Ruby then returns with the slips in her hand. She gave one Stephen. Stephen looked at the slip and saw that the names of his teammates were already on the slip.

"Each leader is to sign the slip," Ruby said, holding her slip in front of Stephen, which already had her signature on it, "We'll be, of course, responsible for our team's safety."

Stephen grabbed a pen and began to sign the slip. He hands it over to Ruby, to which she quickly grabs it and rushes back inside. Rose petals which came from her cape began to scatter around the air.

"Is she always this excited during Free Hunts?" Marco asked Yang.

"Very," Yang said, "Every time we regroup, she comes back exhausted, her clothes stained with the blood of slain Grimms and her rose petals begin to fly out of her cape."

Ruby then returns, the slips no longer in her hand as well as confirming that their slips have been approved.

"So, where are we going?" Weiss asked.

With a sort of diabolical smile on her face, a smile which surprises her teammates, Ruby answered: "Emerald Forest."

Sure The Emerald Forest looks beautiful during the day despite the Grimms lurking around, but at night, it gets worse. The Creatures of Grimm here in the Emerald Forest are usually at their fullest and it seemed unwise of Ruby to choose this place as their hunting ground, but for some reason, day or night, Ruby seems to enjoy hunting in this place, no matter the condition. Apart from the usual Grimms that the team have encountered, new Grimms, such as the newly discovered Shadow Stalker, lurk throughout the forest at night. The two teams finally arrive at the entrance of the forest, most of them hesitant to go in, except for Ruby.

"Should we, guys?" Gavin asked, the worry in his voice is strong.

"You know my answer is yes." Ruby said as she cocked Crescent Rose.

"I'm a little hesitant." Weiss admitted.

"I'm sort of ready." Blake said.

"I don't think this was such a good idea." Yang said, loading Ember Celica.

"I say we go." Stephen said, agreeing with Ruby.

"It's gonna kill us, bro." Gavin said to his leader.

"Ah, who cares! Let's go!" Marco said, readying Edge Shadow.

"Alright," Ruby said, facing her teammates, "Weiss, Gavin; you two take the left path. Yang, Blake, Marco; you three go through the center path, going to the canyon. Me and Stephen will take on the right path. We'll meet again at the entrance in two hours. Good luck, guys."

They nod their heads, agreeing with Ruby. They soon parted ways, planning to see each other soon after they finish with their part of the hunt. From a bird's eye view of the forest, cries echo throughout the night, signifying that the Grimm are ready to strike at the welcoming intruders.

End of Chapter 3

* * *

a/n: Hi guys! Sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been quite busy alot lately and I'm not sure if I can keep my vacation schedule intact with all the work I'm doing on this fic. Anyways, if your all wondering, I post on a weekly basis and it gives me enough time to write a new chapter before I update my story. Next up will be separate side stories for each pair as they trek through the Emerald Forest just so that you guys won't get confused when the next chapter comes out. Remember, I appreciate reviews, negative or positive, just as long as I don't see any spam. See you soon! :)


	4. Chapter 3: Side stories 1

Chapter 3.1- Side Stories 1

*The first part of the Free Hunt which is Blake, Marco and Yang's side of the story:

Yang, Blake and Marco resumed their trek after just encountering a large Ursa in the middle of their path a while ago. The three have already trekked for about thirty minutes and they've barely killed something, except for that Ursa, but who knows what will ambush them in these woods.

"That was eventful." Yang said, after they got through that Ursa.

"Well, I couldn't help it in the first place." Marco told them.

"You just had to poke it with your weapon Marco." Blake said, giggling.

"Hey, like I said, I couldn't help myself." Marco said, crossing his arms.

"So, um, where are we going again?" Yang asked, having that nagging feeling in her that's saying: "We're lost."

"I think we should be approaching the canyon." Blake said as she pointed forward.

"Ruby did say this path would lead us to the canyon." Marco told them.

"I guess you're right. We might even encounter some better Grimms there." Yang said.

They continued forward down the path. The more they walked forward, the ground started to become moister, the smell of mud started to fill their noses and the fact that the path started to become much more muddy. Yang felt disgusted walking over the mud while Blake and Marco didn't seem to bother the mud that they're stepping on.

"How are you guys not grossed out about this?" Yang asked, still disgusted about the mud.

"That's because you're wearing shorts, very short shorts." Blake told her.

"Blake does have a point, Yang. Besides, maybe you should've prepared yourself before you got here." Marco said.

They finally reach the canyon. The canyon had much more mud on it than usual and the water seemed to be more like swamp water rather than normal water. The waterfall still looked the same though, but everything else here looked more like a swamp than a forest.

"Something's not right." Blake said, readying her weapon.

"Yeah. The canyon's not supposed to be this swampy." Yang told them as she activates Ember Celica.

Marco looked around the swampy canyon. According to they're geography classes, Emerald Forest canyon had a much more forest like terrain than a swamp. It's almost as if something made this part of the forest a swamp. Marco continued to investigate their surroundings while Yang and Blake kept watch. The mud looked new and fresh. If this mud was part of this part of the forest, the mud should've been darker, but this mud is brown. Marco thought that something carried this mud over here and it was not the product of heavy rain. Marco continued to look around until he stumbled to something stunning, black foam over the muddy water. He took a closer look. This wasn't normal foam and it seemed more chunky than usual. He took a scoop of it in his hands and poked it. Suddenly, something moved inside the foam. He then looked closer and then realized something horrifying. This wasn't foam, they're eggs! But from who? Suddenly, he heard a faint croaking sound coming from the canyon and it started to grow louder. Something is approaching them and it sounds angry. He turned to Blake and Yang, who are oblivious to what's going to happen. Marco dropped the eggs and yelled at them.

"Guys! Get out of there!" Marco yelled as he ran towards the two.

"Why? What's going-" Yang said, concerned.

Before she could finish, two large figures jumped out of the canyon and landed in front of Blake and Yang. They appeared to look like frogs, but they had obvious details that made them Grimms. They have small teeth, three horns on their face mask and mud dripping from their mouths. They croaked at the three, signifying that the two are marking are marking them as intruders. Marco now gets it. These two frog Grimms brought up the mud from below the canyon and brought it up here to build their nest. These two probably needed to live in a muddy environment for them to build a nice nest for their young.

"What the hell are these things?!" Yang asked.

"They must be the new Grimm known as the Bull Leaper." Marco explained, "They're gross, nasty and have a tendency to be very protective of their nest."

"This is their nest?!" Blake asked.

"Yeah, the eggs are over there." Marco calmly said, pointing to the black foamy eggs on the small muddy pond where he found them.

"Then, what're we gonna do?" Blake asked.

"Well, we could leave them alone or we can kill them." Marco suggested as pulled out Edge Shadow.

"I propose we kill them." Yang said, cocking Ember Celica.

"I agree Yang." Blake said, pulling out Gambol Shroud.

The two frog Grimms stared at them, their red eyes full of nothing but cold and emotionless blood lust. One of them launches their tongue out on Yang, which grabs her and pulls her into it's gaping jaws.

"Guys! Help!" Yang cried before she got enclosed in the monster's mouth.

"Holy shit! Yang!" Marco cried in horror.

"How the hell are we going to explain this to Ruby?!" Blake said, slightly sobbing.

Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the Bull Leaper's mouth. Then Yang lifts up the jaws with one hand as she stepped on the Grimm's tongue. She then proceeded to launch shots on down the monster's throat.

"I'M! NOT! YOUR! DINNER!" Yang shouted as she fired at the monster.

She then hops out of the Bull Leaper's mouth while the Bull Leaper croaks in pain. The other then tries to attack her, but Blake defends her by striking it with Gambol Shroud. It then tries to attack her using it's tongue, but Marco cuts it off using Edge Shadow. With Edge Shadow's light blue Dust effect, the tip of the cut tongue starts to freeze it. The other Bull Leaper hops towards them, but Yang counters it with a powerful punch, sending the frog Grimm flying and hitting the other Bull Leaper. The three then proceed to viciously fire at the weakened Grimms. The two get up but are still being bombarded on by the fury of bullets coming out from Blake, Marco and Yang's weapons. Yang then looks over to the other side of the canyon where three Beowolves are running away from…Ruby and Stephen. Ruby's expression didn't look so well right now. It's like she's pursuing those wolves out of anger and vengeance. Yang stops firing and heads over to the other side of the canyon. There is a worried expression on Yang's face. She seemed concern over the fact that Ruby is chasing three helpless Grimms for one reason and one reason only.

"Ruby!" she yells over to her, but she didn't seem to hear it.

"Yang, what the hell are you doing?" Marco said, still focusing all of his fire at the two Bull Leapers.

Yang didn't response. She continued to yell out her sister's name until she disappeared from view. She reloads Ember Celica and puts herself into a launching position.

"What're you doing?!" Blake said, looking over from her targets.

"My sister's at it again! I have to stop her!" Yang said.

"We don't have time!" Marco told her.

"I have to! Ruby has been doing this for too long already!" she yelled over.

Suddenly, one of the Bull Leapers, who just escaped from the fury of fire from Blake and Marco, tackles her, pushing her down the cliff. Yang hangs on to a branch just before she could fall while the Bull Leaper fall to it's demise. Blake and Marco stop shooting at the Bull Leaper and go over to help Yang. The branch gave in and it snapped, sending Yang plummeting down the canyon. She could almost see her life flashing before her eyes and she was starting to see what would happen to Ruby if she died here and now. But, Blake fires Gambol Shroud downwards, the blade spinning towards Yang. But she didn't intend to hit her, instead she made the blade spin to her side, putting the ribbon Gambol Shroud was attached to Yang's grasps. Yang manages to seize the ribbon, stopping her from falling. Blake and Marco proceed to pull her up, giving out their entire strength to help their blonde friend up. Blake then reaches her hand out for her friend, which she accepts and pulls her up. Yang was breathing heavily after her close encounter with death. She looked at the slain Bull Leaper next to her and seemed as though that she hardly helped her teammates in taking down the two Grimms and instead she risked her life to save her sister from who knows what and almost died in the process from a creature she should've killed first before she placed her attention to her sister. The thought of that just made her cry. She placed her face on her knees and began to sob loudly. Marco and Blake go to their sobbing friend who was just shooting out tears from her eyes. Marco and Blake couldn't understand what drove Yang to risk her life like that for her sister. They knew she loved her sister very dearly, but she was never this protective towards her. It was time to get some answers out of her and figure this out once and for all.

"Yang, what happened back there?" Blake asked the sobbing blonde.

Yang stopped sobbing and looked up at Blake. She was worried and so was Marco, so she decided to spill the beans and tell them why she did that.

"I…I… tried to stop sis…" she told them, tears still flowing from her eyes.

"Stop her from what?" Marco asked.

"I tried to stop her from taking revenge." Yang said.

Blake and Marco exchanged curious glances at each other. What the hell did Yang mean by stopping her own sister's vengeance? They continued to comfort her as they begin to ask another question.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"I meant I didn't want my sister to do those things she just did a while ago." She told them.

"But she was just chasing Beowolves. What's wrong with that?" Marco asked, curiously.

"That's just it!" Yang said, her aura heightened as her eyes started to turn crimson. She then calmed herself down and looked at Blake and Marco, who seemed almost hurt on the way she reacted.

"I'm so sorry, guys…" she said as another tear came down from her eye.

"Yang, please, we're here to help. Now, what happened to you? Why'd you suddenly ditch helping us and tried to stop Ruby?" Blake asked, her voice showed both signs of concern and seriousness.

"Okay I'll tell you guys." Yang said, sitting down at the grass as Marco and Blake did the same.

"It happened a long time ago, before we came to Beacon." Yang began to explain, reaching down her deepest thoughts in order to tell them the truth.

*(The next paragraph is a flashback told in Yang's POV, just to let you know):

_It happened when I was still at my last year of combat school. I just forged Ember Celica and I had to train myself for the last combat exam before I graduate. I was just relaxing in my room in our dad's house until I heard Uncle Qrow's jet stop by our lawn. I went outside to see Uncle Qrow and Ruby step out of the jet. Ruby was sobbing as Qrow brought her over to me. Ruby then held me in an embrace as I looked over to our uncle._

"_What happened?" I asked, embracing my baby sister._

"_Summer's house just got attacked by Beowolves." Qrow answered._

"_Mom's house? Where's mom?" I asked my concern for her rising like mercury in a thermometer._

"_She stayed to fight off the Beowolves. She told me to bring Ruby over here." He told me._

"_But Ruby's ready for actual Grimm combat. Why did she want her to back off?" I asked again._

"_I'm sorry, Yang but I have no time to explain." Qrow told me._

_And in those words he ran back to his jet and took off, leaving me with my baby sister. She fell asleep amongst her crying so I carried her over to my room, brought out the spare bed and placed her there. The next morning, I made her breakfast when she woke up. I wanted to find out what happened last night but it seemed that she didn't want to talk to me about it. I just felt depressed that I couldn't help my little sister so I just headed back to my room. Ruby told me she was going back to mom's house to check on her and see if she's alright. I wanted to come but she insisted that she'd go alone. After she left, I looked over to her bed. It was good thing she brought her things over, including her scythe. On her bed was her journal and a pen. It looked like she just used it so I opened it up to see what she wrote down. To my surprise, there were no writings on the last page, it was just drawings, drawings of my sister slicing Beowolves and leaving piles of them on the ground. Below Ruby wrote:_

"_I'm gonna kill every last one of them, parents and cubs alike. They all deserve to die for trying to kill my mom. Vengeance will be mine soon!"_

_I didn't understand at first, but now I knew. She would kill every Beowolf in Remnant just so that she could claim revenge for trying to kill mom. I just closed the journal and placed back where it was. After some time, Ruby returned from mom's house. She was crying again, but this time it was much more severe. I came to her just in the nick of time before she collapsed to the floor because of the sobbing. She pulled me in to an embrace as she cried. I embraced her back before I asked her what happened._

"_Ruby, what happened? Where's mom?" I asked her._

"_Mom's… missing!" she said, then she continued to cry more._

"_Mom's…missing? How…" I asked, tears running down my eyes._

"_When… I got back… all of the Beowolves…were…dead…but she wasn't there!" she told me._

_I was in shock on what I heard. Mom missing? Piles of Beowolf corpses? I was just so worried about it and I didn't what to do. I didn't even want to tell Ruby what I saw in her journal. All I could do now was hug and comfort her._

"_Ruby, don't worry. I'm here and I'll be like mom to you." I told her._

"_Really, sis…?" she said, tears still running down her eyes._

"_Of course. I love you, sis and I'll make sure I'll keep you safe from harm." I said as Ruby let herself go away from my grasp._

"_Thank you, sis and I love you too." She told me as she hugged me again._

_And from that moment on, I promised myself that I'll help Ruby get over what happened, but her thirst for revenge still built up in her. It was obvious when she turned Crescent Rose in to gun-scythe instead of the standard scythe Uncle Qrow recommended her. And, when we went out on hunts, Ruby would always kill a lot of Beowolves and sometimes, she wouldn't open up to me when she continued to think about what had happened back then._

*(End of flashback)

"And, that's it. Now you know." Yang said, wrapping up her explanation and her story. Blake and Marco became speechless at what they heard and felt saddened as well. Now they know why Ruby was like this. She was just depressed and angry that the very monsters that they were trying to annihilate from the world almost destroyed her family. And to think that Ruby's always happy-go-lucky attitude may have just been a mask to her truly sad and angry self. A tear dropped from Yang's eyes, but Marco rubbed it off with his thumb.

"C'mon. Let's go back. I'm sure the others are already waiting for us at the entrance." Marco told her.

She smiled at him and Blake and got up. They then left the swampy canyon, oblivious that the Bull Leaper they kept shooting at limped it's way to them and jumped. Marco senses it and slices the frog's head off as quickly as he can with Edge Shadow. The Grimm's lifeless body fell in front of them as Marco sheathed Edge Shadow. Yang and Blake turned to him.

"Umm, thanks." Yang said, looking at the decapitated corpse.

"You two have to learn to watch your back sometimes." Marco said

He gestured the girls to follow him as they went back to the entrance. From the skies, a huge black figure loomed over the forest. It looked over at Marco's team and then at Gavin and Weiss and then at Ruby and Stephen. It growled and then sank it's head back into the forest, his red eyes illuminating the dark woods.

End of Chapter 3.1

* * *

a/n: I decided to upload early and finish up this chapter as quickly as possible. If you people are still confused, let's just the say the three chapters are linked together and will reveal some deatiled stuff about Ruby's past. Remember, I respect rewiews, negative or positive, but no spam. See you soon, again.


	5. Chapter 3: Side Stories 2

Chapter 3.2- Side Stories 2

***The second part of the Free Hunt which happened simultaneous to the previous chapter. Weiss and Gavin's side of the story.**

Weiss and Gavin started their trek through the forest, looking around the beautiful scenery of the dark forest. The moon shown bright, lighting their path to wherever it is they're going. Weiss looked at her partner. He's been silent since Ruby paired them up to go on this side of the forest. All he's been doing so far is loading bullets into Bakunawa and looking around the scenery. Weiss decided that it was time for her to break the ice and have a conversation with him.

"So, um, Gavin…" Weiss said, still trying to think of something say to him.

"Yeah, Weiss?" he asked, still looking at his weapon.

"Do you know where this path leads?" she asked, "Seeing that you're a geography buff, I think you know where this path leads."

"I believe that the path leads up to the abandoned outpost in the north area." He told her.

"Abandoned outpost?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah," Gavin said, "It was a small hunting and storage outpost built long before you were born and it was abandoned due to something big attacking the place. No one knew exactly what it was, even until now."

"I see…" Weiss said as she processed Gavin's explanation.

Gavin then placed his attention back to his weapon, but he looked at Weiss. He didn't realise that the spoiled little heiress can be nice and chatty at the same time, but that still didn't change his view of her. Gavin never liked rich people, since they were spoiled, mean and very bossy and, to them, just because they have wealth, they treated the world like their servants and slaves and that just made Gavin mad. He's encountered a lot of bitchy rich kids back in Sphere, most of them heirs and heiresses to their parent's wealth and such and they kind of treated him badly no matter what kind of approach he used. Whether it was nice or aggressive, they still treated him badly. But, when he first came to Beacon and met Weiss, he didn't view as one of the rich spoiled brats he met before, but it seemed to him like she lost all that bitchiness when she met her team and that turned her into a new person. But, Gavin still seemed to keep the view of her, denying that she has changed at all.

The two soon reached the abandoned outpost. The whole place had a lot of guard towers and they were crumbling already. There were several large metal crates all over the area, forming a maze of rusty, vine growing piles of metal. Gavin readied his weapon as Weiss readied hers. Gavin gestured her to move quietly, knowing that something will ambush them later. She nodded and they proceeded to move. Suddenly, they heard the sounds of something eating something. They moved closer to the sound and found the source. The sound came from five Fate Spinners, the small spider-like Grimm that they just discovered before. They were eating the remains of a dead Beowolf, battling each other for pieces of the carcass and gorging on every single piece of it. Gavin aimed his weapon at them, but Weiss gestured him to stop. She then pointed to a humungous black web behind the gorging Fate Spinners. There was no doubt that there was a bigger Fate Spinner nearby and they should back out of the others before it returns. They decided to sneak out of the outpost and find another place to hunt, but Weiss accidentally steps on a branch, which alerted the Fate Spinners.

"Wait to go, Weiss!" Gavin said, giving Weiss an angry look.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! I didn't even see it!" Weiss said, raising her voice.

"Well, we got bigger problems now." Gavin said, gesturing towards the spider Grimms behind them.

The Fate Spinners roared at them, blood flying from their mouths as they roared. They advanced towards them slowly with Weiss weapon positioned to guard position. The spider pounced at Weiss, but she swings her rapier at it, knocking it to the ground. It got up and moved towards Weiss again. Gavin took fire with his weapon, but the shot deflected because of the Grimm's bone plating.

"We should run now!" Gavin yelled.

They ran towards the maze of crates as the Fate Spinners pursued them. Weiss rotated the revolver on her rapier and it landed on a red cylinder. She created a wall of fire using the Dust on that cylinder. It stopped the Fate Spinners in their tracks and Weiss took this as an opportunity to escape. She suddenly realized that Gavin was not with her and Gavin noticed the same thing.

"Gavin!" Weiss called.

"Weiss! I'm at the other side of this crate." Gavin told her.

"How'd you get there?" she asked as she saw the Fate Spinner's shadow.

"No time to explain! But, whatever you do, don't go straight forward!"

"Why?" Weiss asked.

Suddenly the Fate Spinners go through her wall of fire and began to chase her. Two of the Fate Spinners noticed Gavin's scent and climbed over the crate to chase him. Weiss ran straight forward until she stopped cold on her tracks. In front of her was another Fate Spinner, but this time it was enormous, four times the size of the ones they are currently fighting. It roared at her. All she could do was watch in fear as the giant Fate Spinner raised it's head. Suddenly, a ray of lightning came out from nowhere and zapped the spider Grimm in the face. Weiss turned to see Gavin firing lightning out of his trident. His blazer had satins of green blood, suggesting he killed the two Fate Spinners that chased him. Weiss saw something under the giant Fate Spinner. It was a locket, with a rose symbol on it. Weiss immediately identified the symbol as Ruby's.

_Was Ruby here?_, Weiss thought.

"Hey!" Gavin yelled, snapping Weiss back to reality, "Get out of there!"

She dodged the moment that the humungous Fate Spinner's body fell. Gavin grabbed Weiss by the hand and ran. The three little Fate Spinners followed them, eager to kill their prey. Gavin switched Bakunawa from trident mode to rifle mode. Weiss spun the revolver to which it lands on a violet cylinder. Her blade began to glow violet as she darted forward at one of the Fate Spinners. She sliced it in the middle, splitting it's head from it's abdomen. The other pounced at her, but she jabbed Myrtenaster into it and rotated the revolver to a teal cylinder. She pulled the trigger on the hilt in which the spider Grimm instantly began to freeze up from the inside. Gavin shot the frozen Fate Spinner causing it to shatter into plenty of dismembered pieces. The last one shot acid at it's mouth at Gavin, but she protects him using a glyph shield. The spider Grimm fell backwards, giving Gavin the opportunity to fire at it's unarmoured belly. He shot the Fate Spinner multiple times, green blood erupting from it's chest with every shot. Weiss began to notice Gavin's behaviour as he fired at the helpless spider Grimm. He seemed more hell bent than usual and the scar on his right cheek began to glow. Weiss stopped him as he ran out of bullets. She looked at the dead Fate Spinner Gavin shot. A puddle of green blood flowed out of the corpse's body. She could see that Gavin actually manage to shoot of it's legs as well, not just the body. Gavin loaded fresh bullets into his rifle and turned to Weiss who was staring at the kill he made.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. It's just…" Weiss replied.

"Oh, you mean what just happened to me while I was killing that Fate Spinner?" he asked.

"Yeah…" she responded.

"Well, you see-" he began to explain.

But he was cut short when the humungous Fate Spinner came into view. It gave them a glare as it looked onto it's dead children. It then turned to Weiss and Gavin and gave them an ear piercing roar. Weiss and Gavin covered their ears to withstand the sheer power of the roar.

"I think mommy's very angry!" Gavin said, aiming his rifle at the beast.

Gavin began to fire at the creature's mouth. Blood erupting from it's mouth after every shot. Weiss launched blast of fire from her weapon at the spider Grimm as well. The Fate Spinner then turned backwards and fired a web at the two. They were immediately trapped in the spider's black and gooey web as they struggled to free themselves. The Fate Spinner continued to spin it's web at them which was slowly making it's way to covering their entire body with the web.

"The web's too strong!" Gavin said, desperately trying to cut himself and Weiss free from the web.

Weiss then noticed that some of the scattered webs were burning in the embers that she left when she blasted fire at the Fate Spinner.

"I have an idea, but it'll sting a little." Weiss said.

"Wait, what do you mean-" Gavin asked.

But he was cut short when he started to smell fire. Fire which was coming out of Weiss' weapon. Instantly, the web began to burn and they were set free from the beast's grasp. The fire soon made it's way to the source of the webs, the Fate Spinner's abdomen. The creature began to groan in pain as the fire reached it's innards. Gavin aimed his scope at the hole on the Fate Spinner's abdomen which was currently burning up. He fired at the hole, sending the bullet heading straight for the fiery hole. Then, the backside of the abdomen exploded once the bullet came in contact with the fire, leaving a rather large hole on the Fate Spinner's back. The Fate Spinner began to stumble on the crate it was standing on, unknown to it that there was a pile of pointy and sharp rubble on the other side of the crate it was standing on. It landed on the rubble, the sharp pieces penetrating through it's bone plating and stabbing the creature completely. The dying Fate Spinner cried out in pain until the cries died down as blood flowed out it's mouth. Weiss and Gavin sighed in relief, knowing that they finally manage to defeat something in their time in Free Hunt.

"Thanks Weiss for, um, saving me back there." Gavin said, placing his weapon at his back.

"No problem, Gavin." Weiss said as she sheathed Myrtenaster, "Surprised a little rich girl was able to save you, huh?"

Gavin eyes widened after what she said. _Oh, crap! She saw right through me_, he thought.

"Yeah, I knew what you were thinking all along." She said, her voice drifting into more serious tone, "Am I right, Gavin? Did you not think of me as just a spoiled rich girl like the ones I believe you've encountered?"

"How'd you know?" Gavin asked nervously

"I can read your face expressions Gavin." Weiss admitted, "Ever since we first met, I noticed you kept giving me firm looks and cold shoulders. Look, I'm not like those people you've met before."

"Really?" Gavin asked, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I mean I was like that before, but now I've changed. Sure I can bitchy sometimes, but I normally do that for the welfare of my being as well as my teammates. But, all in all, I'm not one of those spoiled brats you've met before, I'm just a huntress in training whose keeping her profession as heiress under wraps." She sighed, "So… are we okay with that?"

Gavin reached out his hand and Weiss shook it. Weiss smiled at the thought that Gavin finally changed his mind, but Gavin still had that serious look on his face.

"If you start acting like that, I swear to god, I'll strangle you in front of your teammates." He said seriously.

Weiss gulped and nodded to his agreement, then Gavin shifted his attitude back to happier mood.

"Now, I'm glad we're in the same side of things now." Gavin said with a smile. He then noticed the locket Weiss was holding.

"Weiss, where'd you get that?" he asked, pointing at the locket.

"Oh, this?" she asked, holding it up, "I found it under that big Fate Spinner when I first saw it back there. It has Ruby's symbol on it. I think it's hers."

Gavin opened up the locket and it revealed a picture of Ruby in it. But she wasn't alone in this picture. Next to her was red haired woman that looked almost like her except she wore a white cloak instead of red and instead of a scythe on her back, it was large broadsword. He looked curiously at the picture and wondered: 'Is that Ruby's mother?'

"Is that her mom?" Weiss asked, also looking at the photo.

"I think it is, Weiss." Gavin told her.

Then they realized that their two hours were up and decided to head back to the entrance. Gavin closed the locket and gave it back to Weiss.

"Keep it. It's your team leader's, not mine." He told her.

She nodded and placed the locket in her pocket and the walked away from the abandoned outpost, somewhat satisfied at the wreckage they left behind. From the skies, a huge black figure loomed over the forest. It looked over at Marco's team and then at Gavin and Weiss and then at Ruby and Stephen. It growled and then sank it's head back into the forest, his red eyes illuminating the dark woods.

End of Chapter 3.2

**a/n: **Sorry for the short chapter, my working schedule is pretty bad right now so I'm just trying to post a new chapter whenever I can. Anyways, I've been formulating a new story for quite sometime and it's hard for me to work on two stories already, but I'll see if I can push through with it. Reviews are appreciated, no spam as always. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 3: Side Stories 3

Chapter 3.3- Side Stories 3

***The last part of the Free Hunt. Again, simultaneous to the previous two chapters, but this time, it's Stephen and Ruby's side of the story.**

Ruby and Stephen trekked their way through the forest. They already had their weapons in hand and checked their surroundings for any Grimms. Stephen pulled out a journal and a pencil and began to write on a blank page. Ruby noticed what Stephen was doing and decided to ask him.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"It's a letter to my sister. She said she always wanted to become a huntress because of me and I'm just telling her how it's like." Stephen replied.

"Aww, that's so cute~!" Ruby said.

"Oh, come on. Wasn't Yang like that when you were still a kid?" he asked.

"Yeah. She was the one who inspired me to be a huntress." Ruby told him, "She also convinced mom to let me be a huntress. So, mom had Uncle Qrow enrol me in Signal, she also helped me build Crescent Rose. Me and mom got closer because of that, but…" She left the last word hanging. Stephen slightly tilted his head, wondering what happened.

"But?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter." Ruby responded coldly.

"I'm just trying to help, you know." Stephen said kind of seriously.

"I don't need your help, okay? I don't need anyone to help me in my problems. I'll just do fine with my problems on my own." She harshly responded.

Stephen fell silent. All he wanted to do was offer help and it was cruelly rejected. He felt disappointed that he couldn't help a fellow team leader in her problems and he didn't bother to offer any more help as they walked. In fact, no one was able to help Ruby when it came to her past. Everyone who tried were harshly rejected by her, even her own sister. All they could put in their minds were: 'What happened to Ruby before?' They reached a clearing after about thirty minutes of walking. The clearing was surrounded by trees and bushes and Stephen saw the carcass of a Boarbatusk in the middle. He brought out Vorpal and Crusher as Ruby folded up Crescent Rose into it's rifle form.

"We've been at it for an hour! Where're the Grimms?!" Ruby said in frustration.

"Patience. They're probably watching us right now." Stephen told her.

And Stephen was right. In the shadows of the trees, red eyes illuminated the dark followed by growling. Stephen saw it as did Ruby. Emerging from the darkness, Beowolves came into view. It was an entire pack of them and they slowly advanced towards the two. Stephen aimed Vorpal backwards, ready to launch himself towards the Beowolves, but Ruby darts forward and kill Stephen's target.

"My kill!" she yelled at Stephen.

Stephen has never seen her so aggressive and it disturbed him very much. Ruby focused on the approaching Beowolves, slicing them one by one with Crescent Rose as bullet shells flew out of her weapon. Stephen noticed that more Beowolves approached him from behind. He fired using Vorpal, killing the Beowolves in the front row. One tried to claw him, but he blocked it with Vorpal then struck it with Crusher. More showed up, but the two continued to push through and kill most of them. Bodies of dead Beowolves piled up the clearing as rose petals began to fly around them. Ruby made short work of them and she seemed more aggressive than usual. Ruby placed the edge of her scythe on one of the Beowolf's neck and fired, decapitating not only the one, but an entire line of Beowolves. Stephen was surprised to see what Ruby just did. He knew her skills very well, but she's never used these kinds of techniques before on them, even during their Grimm combat training, but this was surprising for him. Three Beowolves remained, two of them badly wounded while one only had a few broken spikes. Ruby approached them, anger in her eyes. The Beowolves ran away in sight of her, but that Ruby didn't stop. She was ready to launch herself, but Stephen tried to stop her.

"Ruby, they're not worth it." Stephen said.

"They are to me!" she yelled, breaking away from Stephen's grip.

"But, they're wounded-" Stephen said, but Ruby cut him off.

"We're trained to kill Grimms, I won't have to hear you hesitate to kill them. Now, come on!" Ruby told him.

And in that statement, she took off as Stephen reluctantly followed her. Ruby ran fast and Stephen knew he can't catch up. He fired Vorpal to increase his speed, almost catching up with Ruby. They reached the other side of the canyon, where Stephen saw Yang, Blake and Marco firing at two weakened Bull Leapers. Stephen the worried expression on Yang's face when Ruby ran past her, but Ruby didn't notice. They passed that side of the canyon and they made their way to an old bridge. Ruby managed to catch up with one of the wounded Beowolves and jabbed Crescent Rose into it's back, killing it. Ruby saw that the other two were at the other side of the bridge already and destroyed the stand keeping the bridge stable and the bridge already collapsed. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose behind her, ready to launch herself. Stephen caught up with her and noticed something. _I_ _studied Ruby's weapon_, Stephen thought to himself, _her magazine can hold at least thirty shots. She fired already twenty nine shots, so…_ He realized it and ran to Ruby.

"Ruby, no! You won't make it!" Stephen yelled.

"You don't know that!" Ruby yelled back and took fire.

Stephen blocked that shot as Ruby went off flying. She was half way from the other side and took another shot. But, the sound of clicking was heard instead of a shot. Ruby's widened when she realized why Stephen said she can't make the jump. She began to fall, eyes looking up to the moon as her descent began slowly. Stephen then jumped to her and grabbed her quickly. He aimed Vorpal downward and launched himself and her upward then he pointed Vorpal backward and fired again, sending them back to their original position. They tumbled upon landing and landed on the grass. Ruby looked at Stephen, he was exhausted and so was she. They both turned and looked at the moon. Ruby looked at Stephen and Stephen looked at her back.

"Thanks…" she said.

"No problem." He told her.

"But, we better get moving." Ruby said, getting up, "I'm sure the others are done with their part and they're probably on their way back tothe entrance."

"Right…" Stephen said, getting up as well, "I could use a coffee. And the bed."

They walked back to the entrance. Stephen looked at his fellow team leader. She seemed troubled and Stephen wanted to interfere and solve this, but she'll obviously deny it.

"Ruby, what happened back there?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She replied coldly.

"Look, I just saved you from falling. I thought you'd open to me so just tell me." Stephen said, his frustration slowly going up.

"I said I'm fine." Ruby responded irritatingly.

"Hey!" Stephen said grabbing Ruby by the arms, "You don't seem okay, alright. You brutally killed every Beowolf back at that clearing without any sympathy whatsoever, you pursued three wounded Beowolves to a canyon and you almost fell to your death just to kill two on the other side of that canyon. Just tell me now. Why'd you pursue those Beowolves? Why were you willing to nearly kill yourself just to kill them? Why?"

Ruby broke free from Stephen's grasp and looked down on the ground. She looked at Stephen and her lips began to quiver.

"My-my mom's dead, okay?"

"What?" he asked, shocked at what he heard.

"It happened a long time ago…" she began to explain as they made their way back to the entrance.

*(Another flashback, in Ruby's POV this time):

_It happened when I was still fourteen. I was still Signal that time, training under Uncle Qrow and his knowledge on scythes. Mom and I finished building Crescent Rose before it happened and I was left to do the finishing touches myself. I was in my room in mom's house, fixing up Crescent Rose's ability to use Dust when my mom came in. She looked concerned at me and I wondered what's going on._

"_What are you doing?" mom asked me._

"_Just fixing up Crescent Rose's Dust abilities." I answered with a smile._

"_Well, is it battle ready yet?" she asked._

"_No, well, the Dust usage part, but the blade is in good form already." I told her._

"_So, it's a no?" she asked._

"_Yup." I answered._

"_Then, we better go." Mom told me as she grabbed me by the arm._

_I was wondering where mom was taking me and why it was such a hurry. We rushed down the stairs and I saw why. There were dozens of Beowolves outside our house and they seemed kind of angry. Mom brought out her broadsword/scythe out of it's case and turned to me._

"_Ruby, I have to take care of these Beowolves by myself. Uncle Qrow will be on his way to pick you up." mom told me._

_Tears started to flow down my eyes when she told me that. Mom was going to kill a pack without me?_

"_Mom, please don't!" I cried out, "I still want to learn from you! Why're you doing this?"_

"_I'm doing this to protect you, Ruby." She told me._

"_But, I can fight mom! Please let me!" I told her._

"_I'm sorry… but I simply can't." She told me as sheds a tear._

_But, before I could say more, Uncle Qrow busted through the back door. His jet was outside, behind our Cliffside house. Qrow looked outside and saw that I really was in no condition to join in._

"_Ruby! Summer told me I have to take you to your dad's, now!" Qrow told me._

"_Mom! No!" I cried out as Qrow took me to his jet._

_Mom approached the door and turned to me. Uncle Qrow let me go and I went over to hug mom._

"_Don't worry, I'll be back. I love you, Ruby." She said._

"_I love-" I said but I was cut off when a Beowolf broke through the window._

"_Ruby, we have to go now!" Qrow told me._

"_Mooom!" I cried out as mom exited the door._

_And that was the last time I saw her before Uncle Qrow took me to my dad's where Yang was staying. I waited there for days waiting for mom to return from killing those Beowolves, but she didn't. I became worried and so did Yang, but I chose to find her myself. I left for our house, but all I found were piles of dead Beowolves, the house gone and a grave stone stood in place of it. There were construction workers everywhere so I turned to ask the one in charge. He was my mom's friend, an expert huntsman known as George Carn._

"_What happened here?" I asked, very concerned on what they were doing._

_But, George just asked me, "Ruby Rose? Is that you?"_

"_Y-Yes…" I said slowly._

"_I bid you condolence." He told me, putting his hand on my shoulder, "Your mom was killed in this slaughter. She did kill all of these Beowolves, but some were able to kill her. I'm sorry."_

"_W-What about our house?" I asked, tears running down my eyes._

"_The Beowolves destroyed it, so we had to push it off the cliff. But, all in all, I'm very sorry, Ruby." He told me._

_That was the time I collapsed on the ground and cried. She said she'd come back, but she failed. If I fought there with her, she would still be alive, but she didn't let me. All that was occupying me now was grief, sadness and pain. I didn't even get to tell her I love her. When I returned, I had to lie to Yang that way she wouldn't be too worried, so I told her mom went missing. I then turned Crescent Rose into the sniper scythe it is now instead of the regular scythe Uncle Qrow wanted. I developed my hatred for the Grimm, mostly the Beowolves. And the worse part, I couldn't open up to anyone, especially my sister. That's why I ended up challenging people to hone my skills. That's why I'm so violent when it comes to hunting Beowolves, all because I'm grieving over the loss of my mom._

_*_(End of flashback)

"So, now you know," Ruby said, wrapping up her explanation, "Now, I'm just formulating my new plan, which is to gather enough strength so that I can avenge my mom."

"I see…" Stephen said, shocked at what he heard, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Ruby said, "My…mom…would be…"

She couldn't finish, she became enveloped in sadness and grief. The mere thought of her mom's death is already enough for Ruby to go into a break down. Stephen didn't know what to say about what he heard. A mother-daughter relationship, ruined by the beast that has plagued the world for so long. If her mom allowed her to fight with her, she would've been alive, but he still couldn't understand why she didn't allow her to fight or why she abandoned her in order to protect her. Still, a girl her age, losing the person she loved and looked up to was too much for her to hold. Ruby continued to cry, a puddle of tears slowly began to form. Stephen approached her and comforted her.

"It's alright, Ruby." He said, "Dry those eyes of yours Ruby. Your mom maybe gone, but she'll still be alive in you. Do you really think you'll be able to fulfil your goals and avenge your mom if you're enveloped in too much sadness?"

She stopped crying and looked at Stephen. He was right and Ruby needed to accept it. She got up and hugged Stephen and he returned it.

"Thanks, Stephen…" she said, wiping her eyes as she hugged Stephen.

She now remembered why she wanted to become a huntress; it was to defend the world from the Creatures of Grimm and her mother was the person who encouraged her to carry out that task. Ruby let go of Stephen and returned to her normal, happy-go-lucky self then they continued walking back to the entrance.

"So…" Ruby said, trying to break the ice with Stephen, "You like anyone in my team?"

"Depends, you got sights on someone in my team?" he said.

"Ha, nice try, but I have my sights set on someone else." She told him.

"Ahh, I know who it is." Stephen said, realizing what she meant.

"No you don't." she said, slightly blushing.

"Yes I do. It's-" Stephen said, but got cut off when Ruby elbows his stomach.

"I repeat, you don't know." She told him.

"Still doesn't mean I'll tell you sometime." He said, groaning from the pain.

"Relax. Besides, I know who you like. You've been eyeing on her a lot lately." Ruby told him.

"Try me, Ruby." Stephen said, letting go of his stomach.

They continued to walk back to the entrance as they continued their little discussion. From the skies, a huge black figure loomed over the forest. It looked over at Marco's team and then at Gavin and Weiss and then at Ruby and Stephen. It growled and then sank it's head back into the forest, his red eyes illuminating the dark woods.

End of Chapter 3.3

* * *

**a/n:** I'm so sorry for the late update. My internet has a lot of problems and I have a lot of schoolwork piling in also. Also, it's cutting time from my writing periods and uploading schedule so you might expect some late uploads, but I'll try to squeeze in some time to get this story finished. Anyways, sorry for the late upload/short chapter. Reviews are still appreciated, just no spam. I will see you soon.


	7. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- The Ancients

They made it back to the entrance, both teams reunited with each other. The two hours were already up and Professor Ozpin would expect them soon. Each pair returned exhausted and with the things on their minds that their partners told them.

"Should I break it to her?" Blake asked Yang.

"No. Not yet…" she answered.

"Should I give it to her?" Weiss asked Gavin, holding up the locket.

"No. She doesn't seem to be in the mood yet. Just keep it with you for the meantime." Gavin answered.

"Should I tell your sister the truth?" Stephen asked Ruby.

"No. I can't bear to let her know." She answered.

From the balcony at Ozpin's office, Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were watching the two teams return to Beacon. They've already seen JNPR return from their trip into the forest and they were patiently waiting for SMG and RWBY to return. Mostly Ozpin was waiting patiently. Glynda on the other hand seemed unhappy that the two teams returned late.

"They're two minutes late. Maybe they shouldn't have gone out at night where the truly terrifying Grimms are out." Glynda told Ozpin.

Ozpin didn't respond. He was completely focused on something.

"Professor Ozpin? What's going on?" Glynda asked, looking very concerned.

Ozpin still didn't respond. He could see something moving in the trees, shaking them as it moved towards the two teams. It seemed big and Ozpin seems to know what's coming. He rushes towards the edge of the balcony and tries to call out the two teams.

"RWBY! SMG! Get out of there! Now!" he yelled, but couldn't catch their attention.

The two teams notice Ozpin yelling from the balcony and began to wonder what's up with him. They couldn't hear what he was saying so they were puzzled by this.

"Is Professor Ozpin mad at us or something?" Ruby asked.

"I think so. He looks pissed." Weiss answered.

"Well," Yang said, "maybe it's because we're-"

Before she could finish, something bursted from the sea of trees behind them. It let out a devastating roar at them and stood up. The creature stood tall, as in very tall, in front of the two teams. The creature had the shape and similarities of a T-Rex except in a more Grimm perspective. It was covered in a lot of bone plating and had lots of spikes growing out of them. It snarled at the two teams, who just stood in sight of the creature before they activated their weapons. Ozpin was speechless at the sight of the large dino Grimm, so was Glynda. The creature let out a devastating roar that pierced through the ears of the two teams. The roar even reached all the way to JNPR's dorm room. All four of them woke up once they heard the roar.

"Guys, what was that?" Jaune asked, slightly scared.

"I think it came from outside." Pyrrha said.

"It looks like a Grimm has come to the school." Ren said, preparing his weapons.

'Let's go break it!" Nora said, lifting up her grenade launcher.

They grabbed their weapons, exited their dorm and ran to the source of the roar. Meanwhile, RWBY and SMG were still standing at the sight of the humungous dinosaur Grimm. It gave them an angry look and snarled at them.

"Guys!" Stephen yelled, snapping his friends back to reality, "Are we gonna kill this thing or not?"

They nodded and began to attack the creature. The dino Grimm attacked them with it's jaws, but they dodge it. Ruby unsheathes Crescent Rose and shot the face, but the bullet bounced off. Weiss fired a Dust fireball at the creatures face, but it seemed to do minimum damage. Blake fired Gambol Shroud at the face and the blade went through, but the creature shook it off along with Blake.

"Godamnit! The creature's strong alright!" Blake said.

Ruby notices a large hole in the plating behind the creature where large bone spikes are protruding from. It exposed some flesh and some tissue as well.

"Weiss! Launch me!" Ruby told her partner.

Weiss casts a Dust glyph under Ruby and sent her flying. She used Crescent Rose's blast to send her towards the creature and lands on one of the spikes. She dodges the tip and jumps towards the weak spot and jabs the blade into it. The creature roared in the moment the blade went through its soft tissue. It tried to shake Ruby off, but she held on to Crescent Rose for as long as she can. The creature shook Crescent Rose from its wound along with Ruby. Yang watched as Ruby fell to the ground from the dino Grimm's back. Her aura spiked up and her eyes turned red.

"You fucking hurt my sister!" she shouted.

She then launched herself into the air using Ember Celica and lands furious blows on the monster's face. The creature opened its mouth in an attempt to eat Yang, but Weiss immediately casts a Dust glyph muzzle around the dino Grimm's mouth, shutting it. Yang lands on the creatures head and begins to viciously punch through its bone mask. Stephen and Marco go for the unarmored belly in which they land furious blows and shots at the creature's stomach, but they did very little damage. The dino Grimm manages to get Yang off it's head and break free from the muzzle glyph. Gavin tries to provide cover fire from his vantage point using Bakunawa, shooting the unarmored parts on it's head. It gave off another roar which placed the two teams in their place, covering their ears to ease the sound. Ruby looks up and sees that the creature's mouth was wide open and ready to devour them. Ruby closed her eyes that way she won't see it coming, but before the creature can devour them, a pink explosion hits its face. From Gavin's vantage point, he sees Nora shooting grenade shells at the creature's face while Ren provided her support using his StormFlowers. The others see the two as Jaune and Pyrrha came over to them.

"What're you guys doing here?" Blake asked.

"We heard the roar and decided to drop by." Pyrrha said.

"Great," Stephen said, "We could use all the help we can get."

"Let's take it down." Ren said.

"Right." Gavin said, coming down from his vantage point.

The three teams look at the creature, who's still pulling itself together after suffering the flurry of fire from Nora's weapon. Ruby drew Crescent Rose and pointed at the head. Weiss rotated the revolver on her weapon and it landed on the red cylinder. Blake prepared Gambol Shroud in pistol form. Yang cocked Ember Celica and stood in a battle stance. Pyrrha switched her spear into rifle form and took aim. Nora and Ren aimed their weapons at the creature's face. Stephen changes Vorpal's magazine into the colored one and takes aim. Marco switches his weapon into its minigun form and clips the gas tank on. Gavin takes aim with Bakunawa and aimed it at the creature's eye. Every fires in unison, except for Jaune who was just standing there before he rushed at the creature. Explosions, gunfire and blasts cover the dino Grimm's face while Jaune strikes the legs. The creature was overwhelmed by the damage as it struggled to get Jaune to stop attacking its legs. The creature couldn't take it any more so it let out a heavy stomp which shook the ground and everyone else, causing them to cease shooting at the creature. Seeing this, the creature retreats back into the forest, leaving taken down trees in its wake. Ruby recovers her footing and looks at the fleeing Grimm.

_Grimms usually fight to the death. Why'd this one flee from battle?,_ Ruby thought.

She looks over to her friends who also recovered their footing and deactivated their weapons. They looked at each other and began to wonder what that thing was.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

"I have no idea." Yang said in between breaths.

"We better tell Ozpin about this." Gavin told them.

Ruby didn't know what to say. In her first few weeks in Beacon, encountering a Grimm like this was more like a suicide mission rather than a hunt. She looked at the ground and saw something. She picked it up and saw that it fell off from the creature's mouth. To her surprise, it looked like a piece of a white cloak, her mom's cloak to be exact as she recognized the details and the patterns.

_Could it be…?_ Ruby thought to herself.

But she shook it off. Her mom died protecting her from a pack of hungry Beowolves, not from some killer dinosaur Grimm. She placed the piece in her satchel and followed her friends, who were just heading back to Beacon.

...

"Tyrant King." Ozpin told them. Teams RWBY, SMG and JNPR were inside Professor Ozpin's office, trying to figure out what just happened and figure out the creature that just attacked them. Glynda looked concerned; she didn't want the students to know about the creature they just encountered, but it seemed too late.

"What're you talking about?" Gavin asked.

"The Grimm you guys just encountered is known as Tyrant King." Ozpin explained, "It is a rather large Creature of Grimm that dates back to the ancient times, when Remnant was in prehistoric times and before mankind discovered Dust."

"Wait a minute." Weiss said, processing Ozpin's explanation, "Are you saying we just encountered a Grimm that should've been extinct?"

"Actually, no one said that it was supposed to be extinct." Ozpin told them, "It fact, no one even knew it was still alive, until…" Ozpin paused, but Glynda took over for him.

"Until we found it." Glynda admitted.

"Wait, what?" Yang said, shocked at what Professor Goodwitch said.

Glynda sighed and continued. "It's true. We did find it, but the problem was it was an accident…"

*(Flashback in Glynda's POV)

_It was during our youth, when we were still active hunters. Ozpin, Ruby's uncle, Qrow and myself were part of a Grimm Research Institute hunting team in order to get extra credit. Our mission was to find new, undiscovered Grimms in Forever Fall. During our trek around the forest, we noticed a large tunnel in edge of the forest, next to the mountains. The tunnel lead to an underground cave which had some Dust crystals coming out from the walls. We entered it and we saw that the tunnel used to be inhabited for it had a significant amount of cave paintings. They all described the same thing: Three dinosaur-like Grimms will terrorize the world and doom mankind and no hunter or form of Dust can stop them. It sent chills down our spine but we just thought of them as some sort of myth or ancient legend. We then found that the tunnel was a dead end, a large wall of ice, rocks, thick vines, and Dust. Qrow swung his scythe at the wall, but I stopped him because I felt that there was something not right behind that wall. I casted a barrier on the wall that way nothing could get in or get out, but little did I know what would happen next when Ozpin found a door, a small wooden door that led to the other side of the wall. _

_I told him not to go in, but he insisted on going in anyway and what he found shocked both me and Qrow. Hanging on three pillars were three dinosaur-like Grimms, encased in plenty of Dust crystals. They were asleep and I thought best not to wake them up. Qrow thought that he could use some Dust and he tried to mine them off the creatures. Ozpin found another cave painting on the ground while Qrow was mining off the Dust from the T-Rex Grimm. The painting showed the same creatures in the previous paintings except it showed them being captured and encased in their weakness, Dust. Ozpin and I cried out at Qrow, who was mining off a large crystal on the T-Rex Grimm and in an instant, the Grimm woke up, shook the Dust crystals off it and attacked us. We just stood in sight of the creature as it roared and rushed towards the other two Grimms. It let the Triceratops-like Grimm out first then freed the Pteranodon-like one after. They rushed towards the wall and tried to destroy it, but we decided to attack them and stop them from escaping. We launched all of our best attacks at it, but it didn't seem to damage them one bit. I tried to use the Dust crystals that subdued them as a weapon using my Dust wand. It damaged them, but their bone plating was too strong to withstand any more strikes from my weapon. Ozpin and Qrow did their best to fight of the other two but they were outmatched and they destroyed the wall as well as the barrier I casted. They escaped the tunnel and went their separate ways and we had no choice but to report this to our superiors what happened._

_*_(End of flashback)

"And, that's it." Glynda finished, "The Grimm Research Institute then tasked us to find them and report on their locations."

"So, it was Uncle Qrow's fault that these things went loose?" Ruby asked, concerned of her own uncle's well-being.

Glynda was about to agree with that statement, but Ozpin cut her off. "Technically, it was my fault. If I hadn't found that door and if I hadn't listened to Glynda, none of this would've happened." Ozpin admitted.

The room fell silent as the three teams became speechless at what they heard. Ozpin was right, he found the door and he was the one who decided to go in and see what was inside and that was what led Qrow to mine off the crystals subduing the three dino Grimms. Ozpin felt nothing but guilt. He found these monsters that would doom mankind in the future or now and the worst part was there were three of them.

"Where are they now?" Ruby asked, breaking the silence.

"Each dinosaur Grimm left for a different location," Ozpin answered, "Tyrant King is residing in the Emerald Forest considering that you all fought him there." The students nodded and Ozpin continued, "The Triceratops Grimm, Horned Overlord, was sighted in Forever Fall, but we couldn't determine where it exactly is in Forever Fall. The Pteranodon Grimm, Winged Master, flew towards Sky Tower Mountain, were it was last sighted."

"So, is there any threat among them yet?" Ruby asked again.

"Not for the moment. No one except you guys has seen them so far." Ozpin answered, "But if the three of them were to get together in the same place, it would mean devastation for mankind."

Ruby fell silent. Man had a winning streak against the Grimm for generations and now three dino Grimms with such immense power are loose in the world at it would mean that man's winning streak will finally break. Ruby wanted to stop these creatures, but something in her heart told her that it's too dangerous for her to fight these things alone and if she did, the results would lead her to her death.

"Go get some rest, guys." Ozpin said, "Everything will be alright tomorrow."

"Of course." Ruby said.

Everyone began to exit the office silently, but Ruby looked back. Ozpin was staring blankly at the night sky from his balcony while Glynda was talking to him about something. Ruby still couldn't understand what was going on, but she has too otherwise something bad would happen. She closed the door and regrouped with her teammates back to their dorm room.

...

The next day may have been a weekend, but the staff insisted on one class before the students can go out for the weekend and class brought some sense into the students that they were, obviously, in school. Team SMG and RWBY had their first class together that day and it was Grimm Studies with the moustachioed Professor Peter Port. Every day, the professor would bore them of his constant tales about his youth and past exploits, something his students hated. And after his story, the lecture came along and bored the students even more. Ruby tried to keep her eyes open. Weiss was obediently taking down notes from the professor's lecture. Blake looked like she was paying attention but she really isn't. Yang tried to keep up with what the professor was saying but couldn't. Stephen drew down the professor's Grimm sketches and Gavin and Marco were just listening.

"Now let us move on to our next topic." the professor said, continuing his lecture, "There are six classes which identify the ferocity of a certain species of Grimm which was developed by the Grimm Research Institute. There are the class one Grimms, which are incredibly weak and pathetic and that is the Beowolf. The class two Grimms are slightly less weak than the class one Grimms, but still show no threat. Only the Ursa has earned a spot in class two, nothing else."

Stephen rolled his eyes at what the professor said, "The class three Grimms are a threat for novice hunters but a piece of cake for the experienced. These Grimms are the Taijitu and the small Boarbatusk. The class four are the more dangerous kind, having advanced skills that other Grimms do not exhibit. In addition, most of the class four Grimms are quite rare, namely the True Beowolf, Ursa Major and the Boarbatusk Titan. Also, three of the new Grimms were just added to class four and they are the Shadow Stalker, Bull Leaper and the small Fate Spinners."

Weiss' skin shivered when Port mentioned Fate Spinner, still remembering her previous encounter with them, "Now next on the list," Port continued, "the class five Grimms are the terrible ones as well as the most feared. They are normally the large and powerful ones that have already been considered the worst of the worst. The Grimms on this list are the Nevermore and the Death Stalker, but just recently it included the Terror Bite and the larger form of Fate Spinner which is the Fate Spinner Extreme. Lastly, there are the class six Grimms. So far, there are no Grimms under class six, but there _were_ some on this list but were removed due to extinction."

Ruby woke up from her daze when Port said that there were once class six Grimms and decided to ask a question after class, "Now then," Port continued, "we move on to the next topic which are the new Grimms that have been identified as of now." Before the professor could continue, the bell rang and the students began to stand up and pack their things, "Okay class," Port said, "be sure to read to read your textbooks about the four new Grimms and I want an essay on them before the Vytal festival. Class dismissed."

Ruby stood up and packed up her things as Yang called her over. She came up to Yang, but she looked back at Professor Port, who was grading some papers.

"Yang, I'm going to ask Professor Port a question. Think you could wait for me?" Ruby asked her sister.

"That's something different, lil' sis." Yang said, smiling, "Okay, sure."

While Yang waits for her sister by the door, Ruby approaches Professor Port, still grading some papers.

"Umm, Professor Port?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"Yes Miss Rose, is there something on your mind?" Port asked.

"Well… are you sure that there aren't any more Grimms under class six?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm, normally that's a question Stephen would bring up, but I'll answer it. Yes, there are no more Grimms under class six because they're all extinct and there is one Grimm that was under class six for a short time until they deemed it mythical instead, thus removing it from the list."

"What about the Ancient Grimms?" Ruby asked.

Port fell silent, pondering why Ruby asked that question. He stood up and began to say something.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Port answered, dodging the question.

"You know what I mean, professor." Ruby told him.

Professor Port sighed. He had to tell her about the Ancient Grimms or else she'll be persistent and continue to ask him.

"Yes, they were in class six and some people knew they'd actually be put under class six." Port said, "But, in order not to cause a panic, those who classified them, one of which was me and Ozpin, decided to remove them from the list and keep their existence secret, but it seems their existence is no longer secret when you and your friends encountered Tyrant King last night."

"Wait. How do you know about that?" Ruby asked, eyeing the professor.

"Ozpin told me as well as the other teachers." Port answered simply.

"Then, is there anything we should do?" Ruby asked.

"My advice, don't engage them." Port told her, "If you happen to spot one, run away and don't let it see you. No one has managed to kill one of these monsters and it's best if you don't. You want to be alive when you graduate, right?" Ruby nodded sadly, "Then, don't fight them." The professor said simply.

He walked out the door, leaving Ruby saddened and distraught. Maybe the professor was right, maybe she can't take down these creatures and doing so would be suicide. Ruby then came under thought. Was she upset that she couldn't take down one of those dinosaur Grimms? Or was her sadness formed because she found a piece of her mom's cloak that fell off from Tyrant King's mouth?

_No. My mom was killed by Beowolves, not by some dinosaur._ Ruby thought to herself.

Yang went inside the lecture hall and came over to a moping Ruby. She wraps her arm around her sister's neck and looked at her.

"C'mon sis, let's talk." Yang said, smiling to comfort her.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm sis, but I feel like I should handle this on my own." Ruby told her sister.

"Don't say that sis." Yang said, "If you have problems, just ask me to help you. Don't worry about what you're thinking of, just talk to me and I'll cheer you up." Yang said. She kissed her sister on the cheek and smiled.

"Thanks, sis." Ruby said as she hugged her sister and her sister hugged her back, "I feel so much better now." She told her.

"That's great, but we better get going. The guys are probably waiting for us." Yang said.

They run off to their next class before the second bell could ring.

...

Beep…Beep…Beep  
The man picked up his scroll and looked into his inbox. Ozpin left him a message and wondered why. He just sent it to him now at around two o'clock, during class hours in Beacon. It was even a voice message. The man wondered about this and began to play the message. Before he did, he checked his office to see if anyone was listening or watching. He played the message and Ozpin's voice echoed the room.

"Hello there, Qrow." The voice of Ozpin said, "I received the message you sent me before and sorry for the late reply, but there are bigger problems than her right now. Last night, Tyrant King attacked eleven of my best students. They survived but were nearly killed in the fight, but the point is that they're making their presence known and it could disturb the peace in Beacon or in Vale. Meet me at the balcony given to the Beacon staff during the Vytal Festival which is two days from now and make sure your nieces don't know you're here. I'll be looking forward to this very soon. See you then, Qrow." The message ended.

The man got up, put on his hood, picked up his scythe and proceeded out the door, telling his secretary that he'll be gone for the next few days.

End of Chapter 4

* * *

**a/n:** Uploaded this one early that way I can squeeze in time later on. Also, I think I did really well for a longer chapter and gave a low down on the three ancient Grimms as well as all the OC Grimms I created. Besides, you'll be seeing a lot of them soon. So, anyways, reviews and other questions are always appreciated, just no spam as always.


	8. Chapter 5

Chapter 5- The Vytal Incident

The Vytal Festival has finally come to Vale. After much anticipation, everyone in Remnant heads out to enjoy the festivities, especially Teams RWBY, SMG and JNPR who are just enjoying their time in the festival, forgetting their worries and just trying to enjoy themselves and the various festivities that were offered. Everyone in RWBY just enjoyed the festival, except Weiss. Weiss was participating in the tournament today and she needed more extensive training than before. She decided that help would be appropriate so she asked Ruby for help. Normally, Weiss would ask Yang or Blake for help on this, but her friendship with her leader forced her to ask Ruby instead. They began their training a while ago and just continued on for about thirty minutes. Blake and Yang watched from over the audience stands, pondering over why Ruby was chosen instead of them to train the heiress.

"Why Ruby? Why didn't she just ask us instead?" Yang asked Blake.

"No clue, but, umm…" Blake said, pondering over something.

"What?" Yang asked.

"What if you know, Weiss has-"

"No," Yang said, cutting her off, "Besides, it would feel weird for her."

"Right…" Blake said slowly.

Shortly, SMG came into the arena. Stephen held a lot of snacks on both of his hands while Gavin and Marco just trailed behind him.

"Seriously, you need that much food?" Blake pointed out.

"It's gonna be a long tournament, Blake and you know that." Stephen told her. Blake just shrugged as Stephen took a bite out of a hotdog.

"Wait a sec, is Weiss sparring with Ruby?" Gavin asked.

"She is. Normally, she would've asked either of you two." Marco said, pointing at Yang and Blake.

"I'm just as confused as you are guys." Blake said.

"What's confusing is that you're still wearing your bow, Blake." A voice from behind said. Blake turns to see her old friend and fellow Faunus, Sun Wukong. The same Sun Wukong who was the first person Blake opened up to and the person who helped her stop that Torchwick creep weeks ago.

"Sun! What're you doing here?" Blake said, surprised by his appearance.

"Just stopping by. Nice to see that you haven't changed." Sun said, taking his seat behind Blake's.

"Nice to see you haven't changed either, Sun. How're you doing?" Blake asked.

"Not much. Still running from the cops though, but things have been good." He replied. He noticed Stephen who was eyeing on him since he got here. "Who's he?" Sun asked Blake.

"Stephen Constantine. You?" Stephen replied.

"Sun Wukong, Blake's friend." Sun replied cheerily.

"And how exactly did you two meet?" Stephen asked suspiciously.

"He was the person I first opened up to when the guys realized I was a Faunus." Blake answered, "He also helped me stop that Torchwick guy I saw before working with the White Fang."

"Roman Torchwick?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah. You know him?" Sun asked, slowly setting his hand on his Gunchaku.

"Yeah. Ran into him a couple of times when I was back in Sphere. He hates me because I turned him in after he tried to rob a Dust shop a couple years back." Stephen answered.

"I see. Well, nice to meet you Stephen." Sun said, removing his hand from his Gunchaku.

"Same here." Stephen replied.

Sun nodded and watched Ruby and Weiss spar. Yang looked at him and noticed a small rectangular shape in his pocket.

"What's in the pocket?" Yang asked, pointing at it.

"Oh, it's nothing." Sun replied, "It's just some candy. Want some?"

"No thanks, candy makes me hyper too much." Yang said.

Sun sighed in relief, thinking that Yang would get too suspicious. He continued to watch the two partners spar. Weiss had Ruby in a lock and they let go, their blades bouncing off each other. Before they could make another move, the loud speakers boomed.

"Alright, folks," the announcer said, "the 135th Vytal Festival tournament will begin shortly. Will all those training in the arena please step out and report to the armory to get ready."

Weiss and Ruby panted. They've been training for over an hour now and they left a lot of shell casings and Dust scattered around the arena, something that the janitor nearby was not pleased about.

"Thanks, Ruby." Weiss said in between pants.

"Again, why'd you choose me? Why not sis or Blake?" Ruby asked.

"I have my reasons, but for now, let's just say you're the only person I haven't sparred with yet." Weiss explained briefly.

Ruby groaned as she sheathed Crescent Rose. Ever since they formed their truce, Weiss has been kinder towards Ruby and more helpful and acted like a bitch less. Ruby was happy for that, but Weiss' kindness just kept her pondering. Why was Weiss so kind to her now? She shrugged it off and left the arena and made her way to the crowding bleachers. Weiss took one last look at Ruby and slightly blushed. There was a reason that she's been so kind to Ruby lately and she doesn't want to tell anyone why, but to some, it was obvious. She sighed and entered the armory where her opponents were gathering in. Blake noticed her blushing and threw a fist pump.

"I knew it." She said while Yang and Sun just stared.

"Blake, what're you thinking about?" Yang asked suspiciously.

"What? I was just thinking, you know-" Blake said but was cut off again.

"I didn't know you have such a sick mind, Blake." Yang said and Sun slightly chuckled.

"It could happen. Besides, it's pretty obvious." Blake said.

"Alright," Yang said, throwing her hands up in the air as her eyes slightly turned red, "So we can take it into consideration that my baby sister will start holding hands with Weiss and start, you know-"

"You know what?" Ruby asked, interrupting Yang's statement.

"Oh, hey… sis!" Yang said awkwardly.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked, eyeing on her big sister.

"Well, umm… how do I put this?" Yang said, scratching her head awkwardly.

"We were just having a friendly argument with Sun." Blake replied, saving Yang from any more awkward statements.

"What?" Sun asked, "I wasn't-" Before he could continue, Yang and Blake elbow him. "Oh, yeah. We did." Sun replied with a nervous smile.

"This just became awkward." Gavin whispered to Stephen. He nodded and placed his attention back to the tournament. Ruby took her seat next to her sister and JNPR just arrived in time before the crowd continues to form.

"Why so late?" Ruby asked Jaune.

"We had a lot to do, mostly Nora." Jaune told her.

"She wanted to buy a lot of candy, but luckily, Ren stopped her before she could go into a sugar rush." Pyrrha explained.

Ruby nodded and placed her attention back to the tournament. Weiss and the other contestants came into the arena. Ruby saw Penny and waved to her. Penny saw her and waved back.

"Alright, in a few minutes, we will begin the tournament. So get ready to cheer for your team!" the announcer said.

...

At a balcony given to the staff of Beacon Academy, Ozpin and Glynda watch the tournament on their bird's eye view of the arena. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee in a thermos while Glynda looked at her watch. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and Qrow would be arriving soon. Glynda didn't seem to be slightly amused that Qrow would be coming over, but she knew this visit was for important matters and not just to see Ozpin or something.

"Are you sure it was wise to ask Qrow to come here?" Glynda asked Ozpin.

"Of course," Ozpin told her, "We're dealing something very important here and Qrow is the best person for this kind of problem. He'll show up, he always does."

"I doubt he'll show up." Glynda said.

"Ozpin's right Glynda, I always show up." A voice from behind said.

Ozpin and Glynda turn to see a man wearing a grey hood, a grey trench coat with the Rose family symbol to the right of his coat and below it was his own symbol, he wore cargo pants that he fitted with knee guard and he carried a scythe which was folded on his back. He also wore bandages on both his arms and under those bandages contain some serious scars.

"Ah, Qrow." Ozpin said as he stood up and quickly hugged the man and pulled away, "So good to see you again old friend."

"Same here." Qrow replied briefly.

"I was starting to doubt you'd show up." Glynda told him, unamused by his coming.

"Glynda, you doubt too much." Qrow told her. Glynda rolled her eyes and returned her attention back to the tournament. "So Oz, what's the plan?" Qrow asked.

"Don't call me that." Ozpin told him, slightly annoyed, "Now, first things first, your nieces must never know you're here."

"How come?" Qrow asked, sitting on the edge of the balcony.

"Because, they might interfere," Ozpin answered, "Besides, they already fought Tyrant King and won, but they were almost killed during the fight. This is for their own safety." Qrow nodded at his answer, "Furthermore," Ozpin continued, "Tyrant King has obviously revealed himself and I'm sure the other two will follow. We are to hunt them down immediately. You're here because you're the best scythe wielder that I know apart from your niece and you have the skills to actually put down an Ancient Grimm even though we couldn't kill them back then. Speaking of scythes, how's yours?"

"Rose Scissors has never seen much better action, Ozpin." Qrow said as he unfolded his scythe. It was a simple double bladed scythe but he outfitted it with jagged edges, a spear tip and a function that allows the weapon's blades to extend, form into a pair of seemingly giant scissors and cut anything in it's path, thus giving it the name Rose Scissors.

"That's great." Ozpin said, "Now, hunting the other two Ancient Grimms won't be easy so we should at least start hunting them at night, where they'll least expect anyone to come."

"And what if the students get suspicious that we're not here?" Glynda challenged. Qrow and Ozpin exchanged a glance and looked back at Glynda. She sighed, "You two," Glynda said, pointing to her two friends, "are to give what I told you some thought. If the students ask, make your own alibi. I'm not pulling you two out of this one."

The three of them returned their attention back to the tournament, waiting to see how Weiss, who is the representative for Beacon this year, will pull it off this year to win the tournament.

...

At the arena, the representatives of the tournament stood proud in front of the audience. Weiss stood proud in front of her friends and smiled. Weiss looked at the other contestants. They were from different places and schools, most of which she didn't know. She only knew Penny amongst the contestants and that made her nervous for the upcoming fight. Weiss looked over to where Team RWBY was sitting and saw them cheering for her.

"Go Weiss!" Yang cheered, fist in the air.

"Fight well!" Blake cheered, waving a little flag that said "RWBY".

"Yeah! Represent teaaaam RWBY!" Ruby cheered. The three girls suddenly looked awkwardly at each other. "Whoa, Déjà vu huh?" Ruby said, realizing what she and her teammates just did.

"You can do it, Weiss!" Stephen cheered.

"Show them whose boss, Weiss!" Gavin yelled out.

"Kick their asses!" Marco yelled out.

Weiss looked over to her cheering friends and smiled. She could never have asked for better friends and she actually had someone to look out for during her time in Beacon. _Thank you, guys,_ Weiss thought, _Ruby, Blake, Yang, thank you, especially you, Ruby._

"Alright," the announcer said, everyone turned to a giant screen were the announcer was on, "the contestants have taken the oath to keep this tournament fun and fair and so, in the name of decency, let the tournament begin!" Everyone in the crowd cheered as fireworks were shot into the sky. "The first pairing has already been decided. The first match will be Beacon representative, Weiss Schnee, versus Sphere representative, Ryan Rhinocross."

"Oh, boy." Stephen said, leaning back as he heard Ryan's name. It was almost like he knew him.

"What is it?" Yang asked.

"Weiss is screwed." Stephen answered simply. His teammates nodded at what he said.

"What's your problem?" Ruby asked angrily, "I trained her for damn near an hour! Why do you have to be so pessimistic about this match?"

"Don't get me wrong, Ruby." Stephen explained, "But Weiss is up against the Guardian."

"Ryan has reputation back in Sphere as the Guardian or the Sentinel." Gavin explained, "Apart from his bulky and strong attacks, Ryan's armor has saved most of the students in Sphere in several occasions. He once defended me from a Nevermore's feather barrage."

"He saved me from an explosion in Sphere's laboratory." Marco added.

"And he saved me from a Dust crystal's explosion when I was testing out Vorpal." Stephen added.

Ruby, Yang and Blake gulped at the thought of it. Dust resistant and explosive resistant is the armor that Ryan fellow is wearing and the thought of that made them nervous. How'll Weiss deal with an opponent who's resistant to Dust, the one thing Weiss focused on in her combat style?

"I'm sure she'll be able pull through. Weiss is a tough nut to crack, you know." Ruby said, her faith in her partner stronger than before.

"Alright, we have a very important announcement before we start this match." The announcer told them. Some of the people began to wonder about this and began talking and whispering. Sun placed his hand on the pocket with candy and began to sweat. _How the fuck did they find me?_ Sun thought. Blake looked at him curiously and wondered what's going on with him.

"Here's the announcement." The announcer said. He pressed a button and the screen began to flicker and switch to the image of a darkened person. No one could identify him because his face was darkened making him look like a silhouette, but Blake recognized him as the White Fang's new leader.

"Hello, maggots." The leader said in a menacing tone, "It seems that I've forgotten to introduce myself. For now, just call me the leader and I have something very important to tell you. But, just to make sure you won't escape."

He snapped his fingers and several White Fang troops stood up from around the audience and pointed their rifles at them. One tried to escape but was quickly cut off and killed by one of the troops. Everyone began to panic, but RWBY, JNPR and SMG kept calm and continued to look angrily at the leader.

"I'll cut to the chase." The leader said, "Last night, some…valuable information was stolen from us and we've tracked his or her signal here to this arena. If whoever stole our data refuses to comply, we will kill the contestants as well as the audience. You have sixty seconds to comply."

Everyone began to panic again and look around for the thief. Sun began to breathe heavily as he sweat. Yang thought for some moment and realized what the leader was talking about. She looked at Sun and the "candy" in his pocket.

"That candy," Yang said, "isn't that-"

"Shhh!" Sun said, cutting Yang off.

"You did it, didn't you?" Blake said angrily.

"Okay, I did it." Sun admitted.

"Why?" Blake asked, getting more furious.

"You were a White Fang member, right?" Sun asked, shifting the topic.

"You know I was." Blake said furiously.

"Well, the data I stole was your file on the White Fang database." Sun explained, "I heard them that they were gonna use your file for something big, but I don't know what it was. Anyways, I snuck in, stole the data and left. So, simply saying, I foiled their plan to use your data for whatever it was they were planning and you no longer exist as a White Fang member."

"Really?" Blake said, happy about the risky deed Sun did in order to save her from a life of crime. If people raided their installation and found her file, they would've hunted her down and arrested her. Now that the deed was done, she move on with her life freely and not worry about that getting under her skin.

"Time's up!" the leader told them. The crowd began to panic as the White Fang soldiers continued to take aim at them.

"Adam," the leader said. Blake's skin grew cold on when the leader mentioned her former partner's name. From the contestants, one of them wore a black hood which he quickly took off and revealed himself to be Adam Taurus.

"Yes, sir?" he asked, turning to the screen.

"Make sure you kill all of them until you find it." The leader ordered.

"Yes, sir." Adam replied, drawing Wilt from Blush.

Adam rushes towards the frightened audience, but a glyph shield stood in his path and ran into it.

"Back off, bitch." Weiss said, her weapon raised. The leader spots her and gives off a grin.

"Well, well," the leader said, "Ms. Schnee, so good to see you."

"Shut up! I won't let you hurt these people!" Weiss yelled.

"It seems that an old enemy has returned," the leader said then turned to Adam, "Adam, dispose of her immediately."

"With pleasure, sir." He said. He then rushes forward to the heiress; Weiss' weapon was ready for the attack.

"Wait!" Sun said, standing up and putting himself into view of everyone in the audience. Adam turned away from the heiress and placed his attention on Sun. "It's me you want, not her!" Sun said, holding out the hard disk that contained the White Fang's info on Blake.

"Looks like some Faunus will never learn. Troops, kill him." The leader ordered.

"But," Sun said, his expression changed to his mischievous look, "if you want it, you gotta catch me first."

He then runs towards the wall, White Fang troops shooting at him, but he dodges every shot and jumps over the wall and lands safely outside the arena.

"Ha ha, so long suckers!" Sun yelled out to the White fang troops inside before he took off.

"Don't let him escape with that disk!" Adam ordered his troops. All the White Fang soldiers rushed out the entrance and Adam followed them afterwards. _Hmm…_ Adam thought, _if the heiress was there, that means Blake should've been nearby._

_..._

Back at the arena, the White Fang's leader's image has disappeared, but the audience still continues to panic. RWBY, SMG and JNPR stay calm and look over to the entrance.

"Should we go after him?" Ruby asked.

"We have to. He's my friend and I'm not gonna see him suffer." Blake said.

"Let's go then!" Stephen said.

"Let's go save a Faunus!" Nora said cheerfully.

They stood up and ran towards the exit. Ruby looked back and saw that the audience was still in panic. Maybe stopping that White Fang creep could bring the calm atmosphere back.

"Hey, wait up!" a voice from behind said. The guys see Weiss running up to them and looked surprised.

"Weiss, what're you doing here?" Ruby asked, surprised to see her partner, "Don't you have a tournament to compete in?"

"The official postponed the match until they've settled everything." Weiss briefly explained, "Besides, I have a score to settle with the White Fang for ruining my childhood."

They nod and dashed off, except Yang who hops on Bumblebee and revs it up. Ruby looks back at her sister and pouts. Yang sees her pouting and hands her a spare helmet.

"You want a ride, sis?" she asked.

Ruby smiles and nods. She put on the helmet and Yang revs up the engine again and drove off, leaving her team, SMG and JNPR to just run.

...

Sun continues to avoid every shot the White Fang soldiers are throwing at him. Adam took the lead and fired Blush at him. He simply moved to the right as he watched the bullet miss him directly.

"Give back the disk, monkey boy!" Adam yelled, taking aim again.

"Fat chance, bull head!" Sun yelled back.

Adam glares back at Sun and rushes towards him, unsheathing Wilt from Blush. He landed a strike, but Sun dodges and brings out his Gunchaku in staff form. He strikes Adam on the chest and fires off a round from the weapon. Adam moves out of the bullets way and the shot killed one of Adam's troops behind him. Adam tries again, but Sun parries it this time. The other troops fire at him and Sun continues to parry their attacks until Adam blocks Sun's attack.

"Give back Blake's data!" Adam yelled, striking Sun again.

"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!" Sun yelled back, blocking Adam's strike.

"That can be arranged." Adam said as he pulled out Blush and took a shot, but Sun parries it with his staff.

Sun collapsed the staff and it turned into two nunchuks. He made some strikes while running, but Adam counters them with strikes from Wilt. He throws another strike with Wilt, but Sun fires with his nunchuks causing Adam's sword to repulse. Sun fires off a shot, but Adam counters by striking Wilt before the shot could be fired off. Sun's weapon fires and hits one of Adam's troops in the chest. Sun hits Adam in the chest and takes off, leaving Adam to get up. Adam got up and looked around. Sun was no longer in his sights and that he just killed two of his troops. Before he could go after him again, he heard the faint sound of an approaching engine.

"Someone's coming." Adam said to his troops, "Kill them."

The soldiers nod and go off in the opposite direction while Adam continues to chase after Sun. Sun had already gotten a fair distance away from Adam and he felt exhausted. He looked around and knew he can't escape Adam if he just continued running. He then spotted a tall building to his left and smiled.

"He he, parkour time!" Sun said as he ran towards the building and enters it. Adam sees him go into the building and follows suit.

The three teams were still giving chase to Adam and Sun until their path was stopped by the White Fang soldiers. That didn't stop them and they just kept going. Ruby brought out Crescent Rose in rifle form and fired at some of the troops, caving their chests. Weiss used Myrtenaster's Dust abilities to burn, freeze, shock and slice every White Fang troop that rushed to her. Blake threw Gambol Shroud at a soldier which hit the troop in the head, allowing her to toss the body over at the other troops. Yang continued to drive Bumblebee as she punched a couple of White Fang troops in front of her with Ember Celica, running over one of them as well in the process.

Jaune strikes a soldier with his sword and knocked one out with shield before stabbing him in the chest. One soldier shot at him, but he blocked with his shield and Pyrrha helped Jaune by finishing off the guard, jabbing her spear into the soldier's head. Nora blew off majority of the guards with her grenade launcher and crushed the remainder with her hammer. Ren fired his StormFlowers at the guards in front of him, killing them with every head shot.

Stephen launched Crusher's spikes which automatically made their way to the chest of some of the soldiers and electrocuted them. Marco just rained lead on the troops with Edge Shadow's minigun form and burning some of them at the same time. Gavin shot a ray of lightning from Bakunawa and then embedded his trident in their chest and killed one with a shot from his rifle. As the last troop fell, the three looked back at the bodies that piled up. They sighed and turned to each other.

"Well, that was fun, right?" Yang asked. They gave some nods and slight laughs.

"Alright, let's find Sun." Ruby said, "Blake, can you do it?"

Blake nodded and she closed her eyes and sniffed the air around her. Ruby knew Blake's abilities as a Faunus very well ever since they figured out her true identity a week ago. Blake wasn't really happy opening up to Ruby about her abilities or about her Faunus heritage but her leader's innocence just forced her to tell them. She didn't seem happy at first when she told Ruby about her abilities, but after sometime, it helped her team in a lot of ways and that she was proud of. Blake opened her eyes and looked at Ruby.

"Found them." She told them and pointed to the top of a building and saw Sun jump to the next building and Adam trailing him after.

They take off and follow the two Faunus to the next building.

...

Sun stood exhausted on the top of the fifth building he just jumped to. He already jumped over five buildings and used up most of his energy to just to get to each building. He looked over to the next building and saw it was just a short distance away from the building he was on, but he still won't be able to make the jump due to his energy loss. Adam arrived at the building Sun was on and wasted no time to immediately draw Wilt from Blush.

"I have him cornered. Send the reinforcements." Adam said on an earpiece.

Suddenly, two Bullheads rise from below the building and drop off several White Fang soldiers as well as Adam's two bodyguards. All of them pointed their rifles at Adam while the bodyguards drew their swords.

"There's nowhere to run, monkey." Adam told him, "Now, give me the disk!"

"Alright," Sun said, holding up the hard disk from his pocket and stood up to the edge of the building.

Adam slowly moved towards the monkey Faunus, his hand slowly reached for the hard disk containing the White Fang's data on Blake. But, before he could grab it, Sun dropped the hard disk off the building and it shattered into a dozen pieces on the ground. Adam tried to reach for the disk but it was already destroyed by the time he reached the edge. He angrily grabbed Sun by the throat and began to choke him.

"Did you realize what you just did?!" Adam angrily asked the monkey Faunus.

"I…just…Blake's…life." He said in between breaths. Adam continued choking him and Sun kept a smug look on his face.

"Blake betrayed the White Fang and we were planning to use her data to make those pathetic humans believe she's a bigger Faunus criminal than the White Fang! And now you just ruined that chance!" Adam told him.

"So…that's…what you idiots…were planning." Sun managed.

Adam growled at Sun and rose up Wilt, ready to kill him. Suddenly, an explosion gets both Faunus' attention and they look back to see Gavin spraying a ray of lightning at one of the Bullheads and Yang bombarding the second one with shots from her weapon. Ruby, Blake, Weiss, JNPR and SMG appear, their weapons ready. Blake dashes forward, killing some of the troops in her way while the rest dealt with the three teams.

"Let him go, Adam!" Blake told him as she raised up Gambol Shroud.

Adam drops Sun and lowers Wilt. "Blake, you don't understand." He told her calmly.

"What was that hard disk for?" she asked angrily.

"Blake, dear-"

"Don't call me dear!" she yelled, irritated by her former partner's words.

"Blake," Adam said, clearing his throat, "the disk was for-"

"They were gonna convince the humans that you were a bigger Faunus criminal than the White Fang!" Sun told her as he struggled to get up.

"What?!" Blake asked angrily at her former partner, "You were going to mark me as a criminal?!"

"Don't listen to him!" Adam said.

"Blake, who're you really gonna listen to?" Sun asked.

"Blake, you know me, I'll never hurt you." Adam said.

"He's lying! Believe what I told you!" Sun contradicted.

"SHUT UP!" Blake shouted, silencing the two Faunus she so trusted clearly.

Blake couldn't think straight, her brain began to ache over the tension she placed herself in as well as the statements from Adam and Sun. She's been a friend to both of those Faunus for a long time and it became hard for her to trust one them, especially when one of them was at the other side of the argument. Blake had to make a choice; should she trust her former partner, the person who treated her like a brother and looked after her with his love or the person whom Blake first opened up to and the person who was able to understand the situation she was in. She snapped back to reality and after much thought, she knew what to do. She looked at her former partner and unsheathes Gambol Shroud.

"I'm sorry, Adam…" Blake said, shedding a tear.

Blake lunges forward and attacks Adam. She used both her sword and sheathe to strike her former partner. Adam tried to parry her attacks but they were too quick and too difficult to parry. Blake lands a blow on his chin and he stumbles back.

"How could you?" Adam asked sadly.

"How could I?" Blake asked angrily, "I left the White Fang because I didn't want to dedicate my life to killing innocent people! You tried to mark me as a criminal and you're asking me how could I!"

She attacks him again, but this time, Adam just danced out of her attack, the blade nearly touching his toe. She attacks again, but got her blade locked with Adam's.

"No, it's not that!" Adam yelled, breaking from the lock, "I mean how could you do this to me? We could've done so much more as a pair. You were like a sister to me, but there was more I could've wanted to do with you." He walked over to Blake and took of his mask, revealing his amber eyes, "I developed feelings for you, Blake. Please return them back to me." He told her.

"I-I can't, you seemed more dedicated to your job than me…" Blake said sadly, "I felt the same, but what you've become has caused me to forget about them."

"Then, let me make it up to you." Adam said, holding Blake's hand, but she quickly backs away.

"I'm sorry Adam, but no." Blake said and in an instant, Adam's heart shattered, "Adam, I care for you, I really do," Blake continued, "but I have a team now and I have to look after them. I'm sorry…"

"Very well then." Adam said, his tone changing.

He shot Blake at her midriff, throwing her to the ground. Her aura manages to absorb the damage, but she received some damage. Adam stood on top of Blake, ready strike her down and kill her. She looked at his eyes, they were filled with rage. She knew she broke his heart by just saying no and now Adam was bent on killing her.

"Adam…" she said slowly, a tear running down her cheek, "Please don't…"

Adam didn't respond, he was more bent on killing Blake and he will do so until all of his anger has been taken out of him. He strikes as Blake closed her eyes. She was ready to die in the hands of her former partner. She still couldn't believe that the person she worked with and loved was about to kill her and now, all she could do was waiting for the sword to make contact with her body and it'll all be over, but that's what she gets for betraying the White Fang and him.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Sun stops the sword from touching Blake while Stephen's foot collides with Adam's face. Blake opens her eyes and sees her two saviors attacking Adam. Sun and Stephen ready stood ready in front of Adam, who was trying to get himself together after the hit Stephen gave him.

"Leave her alone." Sun told him, raising up his Gunchaku.

"What he said." Stephen added in, cocking Vorpal.

Adam looks behind the two and sees that his bodyguards as well as his other troops were still fighting Ruby, Weiss, Yang, JNPR and the remainder of SMG.

"Two versus one, huh? Not bad." Adam commented.

He attacks with both Wilt and Blush, but the two parried his attack. Sun fires with one of his nunchuks, countering the shot from Blush. Stephen assisted Sun by firing Vorpal along with Sun's weapon, causing Adam to stumble. Stephen swings around Crusher, but Adam parries with Wilt, leaving himself exposed to attack for Sun to hit him on the side with his staff. Adam fires Blush again only for Stephen to block it and Sun to strike his head. Meanwhile, Ruby helps Blake up after dealing with one of Adam's bodyguards. The two look at the battle at hand with Adam, Sun and Stephen.

"We have to stop him!" Ruby said. She aimed Crescent Rose at Adam, but Blake stopped her.

"We can't kill him." Blake told her.

"Why? Don't tell me you still care for him?" Ruby asked, baffled by Blake's previous statement.

"I-I think I still do." She replied.

"Well..." Ruby thought, "How about a just one hit? That way, you could stop him and he won't get hurt"

"Alright," Blake said. She took aim with Gambol Shroud and threw it at Adam. The attack wasn't meant to kill him, but only to just give him a hit so Stephen and Sun can finish him off. As Marco knocks out the last White fang soldier he was dealing with, he noticed Blake's attack and saw that she wasn't aiming at anything vital. Marco raised his hand and suddenly, Gambol Shroud lowered and was heading straight to Adam's chest. Blake noticed the change in trajectory and tried to pull back Gambol Shroud, but it was too late. The blade pierced through Adam's chest. Sun and Stephen backed away as Blake came over and removed her weapon from her former partner's chest. Marco grinned at what he did, but Gavin slapped him hard behind the head.

"What the fuck did you do?!" Gavin asked angrily.

"What do you mean?" Marco replied back, "I just helped Blake kill that White Fang Faunus!"

"Did you realize that that Faunus was her former partner," Gavin explained, "And that she didn't want to kill him!"

"Oh, shit" Marco cursed. He just helped kill someone he wasn't supposed to kill and now, he's lying on Blake's arms. Marco decided not to tell her otherwise, she'll kill him.

Blake's eyes watered as she held her dying lover in her arms. Adam was breathing heavily and Blake just tried to keep him alive. Adam's death was close, but Blake was trying to keep him alive. She didn't want to lose her former partner, but it was too late for that. _Adam_, Blake thought, _please don't die._

End of Chapter 5

* * *

**a/n:** Yeah, early update, as in super early update! I'm actually happy that this chapter turned out well (even though I just killed Adam) and I actually made it longer for once, so I'm just happy and satisfied at the same time. Anyways, reviews and questions are appreciated, and as always, no spam.


	9. Chapter 6

Chapter 6- The Comforter

"Come on, Adam. Stay with me." Blake said, holding the arm of her dying former partner.

He was bleeding fast, loosing blood after every passing second. Blake had tears running down her eyes. She didn't know what to do now since the man she cared for so long was dying right in front of her. She felt her heart ache at this and she wanted him alive and well, but not like this. Adam's feelings for her returned, remembering why they had fallen for each other in the first place and what a grave mistake he would've caused if he got his hands on that disk. Either way, this is the last time these two lovers will ever see of each other.

"Blake..." Adam said, coughing out some blood in his dying breath, "Thank you. I'll miss you Blake, I really will."

"Please don't say that." Blake said sadly, gently stroking Adam's red hair, "Please don't say that shit. Please stay with me; I don't want to lose you..."

"Blake, please..." Adam said slowly, rubbing a tear off her eye, "but we both know that there's nothing we can do to save me. Just, remember me when I'm gone." He began to choke after that, some blood pouring down his mouth and tried to form his last words to Blake. Sadly, he couldn't say them and with his last breath; he closed his eyes and never opened them again.

Blake broke down on Adam's body. Her tears streamed down his dead body as she tried to grasp what was left of the man she once loved. Adam's death dealt a serious blow on her and there was nothing she could to save him, all she could do was weep and weep and weep. If only she hadn't abandoned him on that train heist, the day that she crushed Adam's heart and made him what he was now. If only she could take back what she did that time, this never would've happened. But it's too late for that now.

The others came over to the crying Faunus, still clutching her dead partner in her arms. Marco picked up Adam's weapon and just held on to it; probably Blake would want to take it in memory of Adam. Stephen placed his hand on Blake's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Ruby also followed suit, giving her teammate a well deserved hug.

"Blake, I'm so sorry..." Stephen said sadly.

Blake didn't respond, she still continued to cry, but she felt grateful that her friends were comforting her. She still couldn't accept the fact that Adam died by her own hands and it would've been hard to grasp the fact that there was nothing that could bring him back, bring them back together, bring them back the loved they once shared. Ruby broke off from the hug and stood up, but still placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Blake," Ruby said, still sad from the events that just occurred, "let's go. Weiss still has to compete in the tournament, so let's cheer her on as her teammates." There was a slight enthusiasm in her leader's voice, which gave Blake a little bit of happiness.

Blake set down Adam's body gently on the ground and stood up. Her tears may have stopped, but her sadness was still evident inside her. She still didn't say a word to any of her friends. On their way back to the arena, the three teams and Sun still tried different ways to cheer her up but each attempt was just answered in silence by the Faunus. When they arrived back at the arena, everything was settled and ready. The audience back to the calm as a new announcer took the giant screen. During the tournament, she just sat there, trying her best to try and cheer, but she couldn't. The grief kept returning to her and made her uneasy to handle a cheery situation. All the grief did was just make her remember her past with Adam, all the moments that they shared together.

It made her remember the day they first met, when the White Fang leader assigned them together on their covert ops missions. It made her remember the day they slowly fell in love with each other until they finally confessed calmly to each other one night. It made her remember the day she abandoned him on that black cargo train, their last mission together as partners and lovers. It hurt her to abandon him on that train and Adam was hurt as well when she left him there. From that moment on, Adam became the vile, cruel monster he was now and that never would've become of him if Blake hadn't abandoned him. Blake's grief was consuming her; she just wanted to kill herself so that she can be with Adam in the afterlife. But, she made a promise to her teammates that she'd stick by them, no matter what as well as the promise that she made in order to change her life by becoming a huntress and forget the her deeds as a White Fang member. But, sadly, all she could do now was mope.

...

The tournament ended around in the evening, exhausting most of those who attended the festivities and the tournament as well. The three girls went back into their room while Blake said she'll catch up, but she really went over to the fountain near the school to mope and sob softly. It bothered her teammates a lot so Ruby decided that she'd watch over from their dorm because Blake wasn't too willing to talk to anyone right now. Ruby watched Blake from their dorm window, still concerned for her Faunus friend. Yang was busy combing her hair, checking for any split ends and such while Weiss sharpened the jagged parts of Myrtenaster's blade, damaged from her fight with The Guardian during the tournament.

"Damn Ryan," Weiss grumbled angrily, "His armor ruined my rapier. Look at all the jagged parts I have to sharpen."

"Well, Stephen didn't lie," Yang said, still brushing her long golden hair, "I mean, he did mention Ryan Rhinocross' armor was dense, dust resistant and explosive resistant."

"Good thing you told me that from the audience," Weiss said.

"On the bright side," Ruby said, "Weiss won the rest of her matches and actually won the tournament after that." She brought out Weiss' trophy, showcasing it on one of their shelves.

"Yeah," Weiss said cheerily, "Beacon's won this year's tournament which just made me a lot more enthusiastic."

"I wish the same can be said for Blake." Ruby said sadly.

Yang and Weiss stopped what they were doing and fell silent. Their teammate was hurt by an event that broke her severely and she did not want any help from either of her here friends. That thought of that made Weiss, Yang and Ruby sad and a little hurt.

"I feel so sorry for her." Yang said, concern lining her voice.

"She did loose someone she loved so deeply and now, she..." Weiss said, but paused. The words hurt to form them. "She just doesn't want any help from us. That just hurts me." Weiss continued.

Ruby decided to see if there was any way that she could help Blake. Probably paramedics might have been able to save Adam when they left so she decided to check the news if anything did happen. She pulled out her scroll and opened up the Vale News Network to see if something happened to Adam.

"Today," Lisa Lavender started, "White Fang lieutenant, Adam Taurus, was found dead on top of an Industry Corp. building this afternoon after the apparent attack during the Vytal Festival tournament a few hours ago which was staged by the White Fang."

"They got that on the news?" Weiss asked, overhearing the report.

"I just hoped that they don't mention what we did." Yang said.

"Guys," Ruby said, "I'm trying to hear if they found a way to rescue Adam, for Blake's sake." The two fell silent and continued to listen to the report.

"Witnesses say that the White Fang lieutenant was chasing some other Faunus before he was killed." Lisa continued, "It could be assumed that this rouge Faunus has killed Adam on top of the building before taking off. But, anyways, paramedics weren't able to heal Adam Taurus and his body will be buried in Vale memorial park on Wednesday." Ruby felt defeated that they weren't able to revive Adam and she was sure Blake would go to his grave on Wednesday, but Blake will just be depressed over that news.

"Damn," Yang said, also feeling the defeat, "Blake's not going to like that. I guess we should just accompany her to the funeral on Wednesday and, of course, we'll do our best to comfort her. Right, guys?" The other two nodded and continued to listen if anything else came up.

"In related news," Lisa continued, "the death of Adam Taurus has caused a big impact on the White Fang today. Many White Fang followers have quickly left the group, many of which were soldiers, council members and other followers. Due to this, the White Fang has dissolved and the terrorist group will finally cease to exist. The White Fang leader, who staged the attack today, has gone into hiding over the fact that many White Fang members have abandoned him. The White Fang members who have left the group have gotten real jobs and other occupations as stated by many civilians. Whoever killed Adam Taurus, thank you for bringing peace back to Vale." And with that statement, Ruby turned off her scroll.

"Well, everything turned out well for Sun and people who dislike the White Fang." Yang said, a little relived of the situation.

"At least the White Fang's out of my family's hair once and for all," Weiss said happily, "Now my family can get the much needed peace we really deserve."

Ruby didn't want to comment on any of the good news. The White Fang being gone might cheer up Blake, but talking to her about the White Fang might just make her remember Adam. Ruby just remained neutral on this, still showing concern on her Faunus friend.

"Ruby," Yang said, nudging her sister, snapping Ruby back to reality, "you alright, lil' sis?"

"Yeah," Ruby answered softly. She turned back to where Blake was to see that she still hasn't left her spot. "Guys," Ruby said, "why don't you go to bed while I watch over Blake."

"I'll stay up with you sis," Yang said, "She's my partner and I have to do the same."

Ruby nodded and turned to Weiss. "You okay with that Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, "It'll give me a chance for a proper rest. I am very exhausted from the tournament so I could use it."

"Good night Weiss." The two sisters said in unison. Weiss curled up to her bed and began to shut her eyes as she slowly fell asleep.

"We might need some coffee," Yang said, standing up, "You want any sis?"

Ruby nodded and Yang left the dorm to get some coffee. Ruby placed her attention back to Blake, who was quietly sobbing at where she was. Ruby wanted to go out there and help her out, as would Yang, but she denied the help that went to her aid, especially her team leader, partner and occasional friend. Ruby felt a little grieved too, not being able to help Blake made her sad on the inside and she thinks Yang might've felt the same too. Suddenly, a shadow came from behind Blake. The figure turned out to be a boy wearing a black shirt. Ruby felt that that black shirt looked familiar and she quickly got an idea who was approaching Blake right now.

_Stephen?_, Ruby thought. Yang brought over two mugs and also looked out the window.

...

Stephen approached the sobbing Faunus a little hesitantly, looking forward to finally get her out of her depression. He just couldn't bear to see her sad like this and it just sort of hurt him to see that someone he made friends with was grieving over the lost of her past lover. But, he is sure that Blake remembers what he told her weeks ago and maybe that will come to her senses. But, there was something else he needed to get off his chest and this may be the only way to do it.

"Hey, Blake," Stephen said, standing beside her.

"I'm not in the mood right now." Blake sobbed, her tears still flowing down her eyes. Stephen ignored what she told him and sat down beside her.

"I said I'm not in the mood." She said again, a little bit irritated and a little bit sadly. Stephen silenced by gently pacing his finger on her lip.

"Care to tell me why you are like this?" he asked in a very concerning voice.

Blake hesitated for bit, but decided to tell him anyway. "I just lost someone very dear to me," she said, still sobbing, "Someone who I loved so dearly and he felt the same. Now everything's just, you know, falling apart in front of me. I know you told me to put my past behind me, but Adam was just someone who I held to for so long and I always hoped he'd come back and we'd be together again. Now he's gone and everything that I hoped for just seemed pointless to me."

Stephen wrapped his arm around Blake's neck and brought her face up gently. Blake seemed a little surprised by this and didn't know what to do.

"What was so special about him anyway?" he asked.

"He loved me, he cared for me, made feel like someone who has a purpose in life." She answered, still sadly though.

"Well, he can't do that anymore." Stephen said, "When you two parted ways, did really think that he could be that again?" Blake shook her head slowly; a few more tears began to run down. "Then, there's no point in moping on this." He said.

Blake realized now what he said and he was right. She just had to accept the fact that Adam can no longer be the one she could care about or care for. All was left in the present was... She realized now. She brought her up towards Stephen, who just looked passionately at her. Suddenly, Blake pulled Stephen into a kiss, a very passionate kiss.

Stephen was wide-eyed at first, but he realized why Blake did that he returned the kiss as well, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment. Blake pulled out, her heart aching a bit when after she kissed Stephen. Stephen realized why she just did that. He's been able to open up to the quiet Faunus ever since the first day they met. He shared her interest, he gave her caring advice, he promised to protect her because she was a Faunus. He now knows why he cared so much for Blake and now he can actually say that he loves her.

"Stephen?" Blake asked, "Are you...uncomfortable with this?"

"No, Blake." Stephen said kindly, "In fact, I know how you feel too."

Stephen planted his lips on Blake again, giving her another soothing kiss. Blake reacted well to the fact that Stephen already fell in love with her the first day they met and she was fine with that. They continued to kiss, their emotions for each other were pouring out on each other. Blake finally forgot about the love she shared with Adam and now wants to focus on the love she is sharing right now with the person who cared for her, just like Adam back then. They gently pull away from their kiss, looking at each other. Stephen smiled and rubbed his thumb across Blake's cheek, wiping away a tear.

"Don't worry, Blake," Stephen whispered, "it's alright."

Blake just hugged him as Stephen returned it. It seems that he has told her what needs to be told and now, they're finally together, just as Stephen wanted.

"Thank you Stephen..." Blake said softly.

"Of course, Blake," Stephen said, "I'll be here, don't worry." He stood up and Blake did so as well. "Let's go back; I'm sure your team must be worried about you right now."

"I bet they do." Blake said, wiping away another tear.

They began to walk back to their dorms in silence with Stephen's arm wrapped behind Blake's neck.

"Stephen," Blake asked, "are you sure you're okay falling in love with a Faunus?"

"Blake, Faunus or not," Stephen replied, gently removing her bow, exposing her cute cat ears, "I'll still love you, no matter what."

Stephen handed the bow back to his new girlfriend as they slowly walked back to their dorms.

...

Ruby and Yang just sat there, stunned at what they just saw. After seeing Blake and Stephen kiss, they hardly spoke a word or comment on what happened. They finally snapped back to their senses and tried to say something.

"Were we seeing things?" Ruby asked her sister.

"I don't think we were." Yang replied.

"No shit here," Ruby said, "looks like Blake and Stephen found love."

Yang nodded and decided to process everything they know why this happened. Stephen has been nice to Blake ever since they first met, he even promised to protect her because he didn't care if she was a Faunus and he'd do everything to protect her and Blake also returned the acts of kindness Stephen showed her. It was no joke; Stephen and Blake were in love. They heard footsteps approaching their dorm.

"Should we stay awake and tell Blake what we saw?" Ruby asked.

"I don't-" Yang said, but when the door opened, it cut her off.

Blake and Stephen looked at them, but they just remained silent.

"You guys are awfully up late." Stephen said.

"We just saw what happened and we'd just like to say we're proud of you two." Yang said. Blake and Stephen smiled at her and Yang and Ruby returned it.

"Well, then," Stephen said, pecking Blake on the cheek, "I'll see you two around. Good night, Blake."

"Good night, Stephen." Blake said. Stephen left the room silently and gently closed the door.

"You guys saw what happened?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, but anyway, we're still happy for you Blake." Yang said.

"I agree with Yang on this one." Ruby said, smiling.

Weiss stirred upon hearing the voices, but she didn't wake up. The three sighed in relief. Waking Weiss would mean having to deal with her very drowsy bitchy attitude.

"Let's get some sleep." Blake said.

The sisters nodded their heads and proceeded to their respective beds. Blake had no time to change into her pajamas, she was too exhausted to do anything. Yang and Ruby curled up in their beds and said their good nights just before drifting to sleep. Blake wasted no time and did the same. She slowly closed her eyes as her dreams began to form, dreams on what will hold for her in the future.

...

The next day, teams RWBY, JNPR, SMG and CRDL were out in a forested arena near the Emerald Forest for Grimm Combat training. The new class was Ozpin's idea, for Ozpin wanted to see how well the students would do during enclosed combat with Grimm, which they all looked forward too.

"Good Morning, everyone," Ozpin said through the microphone. He was on a balcony with a good view of the arena along with Glynda Goodwitch, who was busy on her scroll. "You four are all gathered her for one purpose," Ozpin said, "and that is to kill Grimm in an enclosed arena. This will not only prove your team work or your weapon usage, but this will train your limitations outside of your usual hunting area. You will have limited space in the arena and limited moving capabilities, so maximize whatever you can to kill whatever we throw at you." The four teams nodded in agreement. "Good," Ozpin said, "Now, the creatures of Grimm you will be facing are the recently discovered ones, the Shadow Stalker, Terror Bite, Bull Leaper and the Fate Spinner. You will all have to cooperate on this one since some of these Grimms feel new to you, but since you've been training hard, I'm sure this won't pose a problem. I will give you five minutes to prep up, so make use of it."

The four teams now started to go about their weapons and their strategies, except for CRDL, who seemed overly confident that they could face every Grimm in that arena. The other three teams didn't give a shit on what CRDL said and just focused on their own conversations. The three minutes were up, the four teams ready for the fight that is to come. Ozpin shook his head when he saw CRDL not planning awhile ago while RWBY, JNPR and SMG were.

"Alright," Ozpin said, "Our first match will be team CRDL. Please step into the arena." Ozpin gestured to the open gate and the four members of team CRDL walked inside.

The arena floor was small, only able to support a large Nevermore in it. It was also damp with wet soil dominating the arena floor. Four gates were on each side of the arena, each containing a reasonable amount of one of the new Grimm species. The four members drew their weapons. Cardin drew out his mace, Russel pulled out two machetes with jagged edges, Dove brought out a double barrel shotgun with a large bayonet attached to tip of his shotgun and Sky drew out a spear with black fluids dripping from the tip, suggesting that the tip was coated with poisons.

"I'll be damned if they manage to survive with that arsenal." Pyrrha said.

"SMG bets 30 lien if Cardin gets his ass kicked." Gavin proposed. His teammates were going to protest on this, but they just decided to do it.

"Deal!" The others said in unison. They brought some lien out of their wallets and handed it over to Gavin. It didn't bother them that they were gambling in front of the teachers, but Ozpin nor Glynda paid no mind to it. RWBY was betting that Cardin gets screwed in three minutes, JNPR was betting on their time of four minutes and SMG was betting on their time of two minutes.

Ozpin opened one of the gates with a remote control and out of the gate; a Terror Bite crawled out of the cage. It gave the four bullies an angry glare and rushed to them. Dove fired two shots on the crocodile Grimm's face, making the Grimm flinch. Sky then jabbed his spear on its back, the poison going into its body, but that didn't seem to affect it. Russel tried to slice its eyes out using his machetes, but the Grimm swings its face at Russel, launching him into the air and disarming at the same time. Cardin takes this as an opportunity to bang his mace on the Terror Bite's skull, blacking out the creature. Cardin takes a step back with him believing that he killed the Terror Bite. He yelled out in joy over the kill and the other three just applauded along with him.

"Yeah! I killed it!" Cardin cheered.

"Nice one, dude!" Dove cheered.

"You go, Cardin!" Russel cheered, hands in the air.

"You showed that bitch whose boss!" Sky cheered.

Cardin took a bow, impressing his teammates as they applauded. The other three teams, even Ozpin and Glynda gave a smirk as the blacked out Terror Bite began to stir, with neither of the bullies noticed it. The Terror Bite finally woke up, the blacking out team CRDL gave it wasn't that bad and it focused on Cardin, who was just right in front of it. The Terror Bite seized Cardin in its jaws, gashing a serious wound on both of his legs. The crocodile Grimm began to drag Cardin back into its cage, but Cardin claws himself to the ground, trying to exert enough effort in order to save himself.

"HEEEELP!" Cardin cried.

Russel, Dove and Sky can only watch in horror as their team leader was being dragged into his impending doom by a creature they thought they killed. They just watched in fear before they fled the arena, taking their weapons and leaving Cardin to die. The other three teams just watched at the events going with some of them even grinning at what the Terror Bite was going to do to the bully. But, Ozpin and Glynda decided against what will happen to will happen to Cardin.

"Ahem," Ozpin said, getting the three team's attention, "I believe that we're supposed to train living students, not dead ones. Can one of you can please help Mr. Winchester."

The others groaned and talked amongst themselves who's going to save that idiot Cardin.

"I say we let him die." Marco contributed.

"Marco, Ozpin told us to save his sorry ass." Gavin told him.

"Blake, care to do the honors?" Stephen asked.

"Why me?" Blake protested.

"Because your weapon is more precise and causes less splash damage so meaning Cardin won't get hurt." Stephen explained.

"Fine," Blake said, unsheathing Gambol Shroud and switching it to pistol form.

She took careful aim at the monster's eyes and fired off three shots. All the shots went through the creature's skull, killing it almost easily. The dead Terror Bite's jaw loosened and Cardin began to crawl away from the dead creature's corpse. The other three teams groaned again after seeing Cardin's bloody legs because they all had plans to break Cardin's legs sometime in the future. Now the plan Nora brought into their minds was complete failure, but some of them were still happy about one thing.

"We win!" Gavin cheered.

"What?" Ruby whined, "How do you even know it was two minutes?"

"Because we kept a mental clock at it." Stephen said.

"No, you're wrong." Blake said, holding up a stopwatch that she was secretly using to monitor the match, "Either you guys counted late or your mental clocks are so slow." Blake then proceeded to take all the lien from Gavin and gave it to Ruby.

"So, my own girlfriend betrays me." Stephen muttered.

"Don't worry; you'll get your chance." Blake told him.

"You let them win didn't you?" Gavin whispered to Stephen.

"A great way to start a relationship, right?" Stephen replied.

"You could at least ask for half of that lien. Some of it is ours anyway." Marco protested.

"We have plenty in the safe, bro. That's not even enough to how much we've saved." Stephen reminded him. Team SMG was not technically rich; they just had all the money that they squandered up since they were kids.

"Alright," Ozpin said through the microphone, "It seems that Team CRDL has failed to kill the Terror Bite, but thank you Miss Belladonna for making short work of it."

"Thank you, professor." Blake said then smiled at Stephen.

"Now, Team JNPR, please take the arena for your fight." Ozpin said.

"Wish us luck." Jaune said, still a little nervous

"Of course," Ruby said with a smile.

JNPR entered the arena, drawing their weapons as they stepped on the soil. Ozpin opened another gate with the remote control and out came three Bull Leapers. They hopped around their opponents and began to croak loudly, attempting to irritate their enemies.

"Do they have to croak so loud?" Nora yelled.

Suddenly, one Bull Leaper breaks away from the formation and attacks Nora with its tongue. Ren sees it coming and slices the Bull Leaper's tongue off using his StormFlowers. The Bull Leaper croaked in pain, which alerted the other two Bull Leapers and they attacked the rest of Team JNPR. The first Bull Leaper attacked Jaune with its tongue, but he blocked the attack with his shield. The second one tried to corner Nora, but she swung her hammer at it, sending the frog Grimm flying and hitting the wall near it. Ren hopped on one of the Bull Leapers and jabbed one StormFlower into the monster's head to get a firm grip on the creature as he fired the second StormFlower at the other Bull Leapers. The Bull Leaper Ren was one tried to shake him off, but his strong grip managed to keep him in place. Nora slammed her hammer onto her struggling Bull Leaper's belly, pink explosions erupting from the hammer with every hit. Pyrrha rushed towards jaune who was having some trouble with his Bull Leaper. Jaune strikes the frog Grimm throat while Pyrrha gives him support by firing at the frog's eyes. Jaune makes a swing, but the Bull Leaper dodges and pins him to the ground.

"Ahhhhh!" Jaune screamed.

"Hold on, Jaune!" Pyrrha said, running towards he frightened partner. The Bull Leaper swings its tongue at her, effectively sweeping her out of the way.

"Hurry!" Jaune screamed.

The Bull Leaper brought its tongue down at Jaune and began to lick him, tasting its prey. Ren's cover fire manages to hit the Bull Leaper's tounge, giving Jaune a chance to pick up his sword. Pyrrha comes over and jabs her weapon onto the Bull Leaper's face mask causing the Grimm to release Jaune. She transforms her spear into a rifle and fired several shots in the opening she made in the Bull Leaper's head. Jaune finally grabbed his weapon and stabbed the Bull Leaper's throat, killing it instantly. Pyrrha helped Jaune up and shook her hand to get rid of the saliva that was covering her partner.

"You okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah..." Jaune said, "I may need a few baths to clean up this crap."

Pyrrha giggled slightly and looked at the rest of her teammates. Nora had already beaten her Bull Leaper to death and Ren hopped off his Bull Leaper, stabbed one of his blades into the frog's head, opened the mouth and fired several rounds into the frog Grimm's throat. The Grimm croaked in pain and after a few seconds, it fell silent. JNPR looked around the battlefield, satisfied with the damage they left, except for Jaune, who was still covered in saliva. Team RWBY and SMG applauded and Ozpin grinned when they came back, alive.

"Excellent work, JNPR," Ozpin said, "Mr. Arc, you're excused for now to wipe the saliva off your body."

"That's all I ask for, sir." Jaune said. He turned and left to go back to his dorm, probably a nice long shower will really clean him off.

"Alright, students," Ozpin said, "It's team RWBY's turn to take the arena."

"Good luck, guys." Gavin said.

"Thanks, Gav," Ruby said with a smile.

The four girls entered the arena and they felt the soil sink into their footwear. Weiss felt a little disgusted at the soil, but her teammates just stayed calm and proceeded further into the arena. Ozpin opened the third gate with his remote and what came out surprised Weiss completely. It was a small group of Fate Spinners, the small ones. Seeing the spider Grimms again gave Weiss Goosebumps. It's as if luck wasn't on their side today and they were picked to face the Grimm Weiss started to fear.

All four girls drew their weapons and stood battle-ready in front of the spider Grimms. The first Fate Spinner lashed out at Ruby which Ruby was, of course, able to counter by slicing the Grimm in half. Blake used both her sword and sheath to attack three Fate Spinners that she was up against. She quickly took them down easily, the green blood splashing on her face. _Man, these guys must bleed a lot , _Blake thought.

Yang had two Fate Spinners grasped in her hands then smashed them together at the same time. She wasn't bothered by the green blood covering her face and her body because she's been in a lot of these situations before where the blood of a dead Grimm was splashed all over her and she just didn't care. Weiss was still shuddering at the Fate Spinners approaching her. Ever since their encounter with Fate Spinners back at the abandoned out post, she started to develop a fear of Fate Spinners. This was the first time that Weiss encountered a Grimm that she actually started to fear. Apart from the Nevermore they had already encountered before, Weiss never feared any Grimm before in her life. She was always calm when it came to facing Grimm, even the big ones, but this fear she developed with Fate Spinners was really eating her up. To Weiss, there was something about Fate Spinners that she feared, was it the appearance? Was it the near death experience she had with them last week? Or was it the acid and/or green blood you get covered in every time you kill one of them? Whatever the reason, Weiss still feared them and she'll probably never know why.

"Weiss! Snap out of it!" Yang yelled.

Weiss snapped back to reality and saw that one of the Fate Spinners shot acid at her. Weiss casts a Dust glyph to block the acid then darted forward at the spider Grimm. She stabbed the spider with her weapon then froze it. Without warning, another Fate Spinner hopped on her back and spun a web around her head.

The web blinded Weiss as soon as it over took her face. The Fate Spinner continued to wrap her up with webs, but Yang and Ruby saw what the Fate Spinner was doing and Yang brought her fist up to its face. The Fate Spinner was launched and Ruby shot it mid-air. Ruby gently laid the tip of her weapon on Weiss and sliced gently, releasing Weiss from the web. Weiss stood up and picked up Myrtenaster then looked at Ruby.

"You okay?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, never better." Weiss responded.

Blake then brought down the last Fate Spinner by shadowing up then slicing it in its midsection. Team RWBY looked around the battlefield and saw that the damp soil was coated in that disgusting looking green blood. Weiss gagged slightly at the sight of all the blood while the others just puffed.

"Well done, RWBY," Ozpin said, "You all did well, but Ms. Schnee, what happened back there?"

"Nothing, just a little...uncomfortable with all the green blood." Weiss responded.

Ozpin nodded and gestured them to return outside the arena. The others puffed and whistled after seeing what happened with Weiss back there. Weiss looked disappointed at everyone, giving everyone the same questioning look.

"Weiss, were you...afraid of those Fate Spinners?" Marco asked.

"I wasn't, you dolt!" Weiss snapped causing Marco to back away from her slightly.

"Weiss," Ruby asked calmly, "Were you really afraid of those Fate Spinners?"

Weiss nodded her head slowly. She didn't really want to tell them that she has a fear of Fate Spinners because that'd be very embarrassing for her reputation and she'll lose the credibility her friends give her, but there's no use hiding anymore.

"It's okay, Weiss," Ruby said, "Everyone is afraid of something. There's nothing wrong in it."

"I know," Weiss said, "But, it's not really good for my reputation if people found out I'm afraid of some medium sized class four spider Grimm."

"You're fine, Weiss." Ruby said, gently patting her partner on the back, "If you're afraid of something, don't be afraid to tell us and we'll understand."

Yang and Blake nodded then smiled at Weiss. Weiss was lucky that her friends were okay with her having this fear, but they respected her as well.

"Team SMG," Ozpin said, "You're the last team so; show us what you can do."

Stephen and his teammates nodded and proceeded inside the arena. Every last Grimm was dead so that left them with one last Grimm, the elusively dangerous Shadow Stalker. The trio had never encountered a Shadow Stalker before but Stephen knew a lot about Grimm and he wasn't afraid to let it show. Shadow Stalkers were just actually panther Grimms no bigger than your average Beowolf. But there is only one thing that made the Shadow Stalker very dangerous and that is its ability to camouflage completely with its surroundings. Once you see it in the dark woods, you won't see it anymore once it spots you. That's the reason people have given it the name Shadow Stalker.

The trio entered the arena, weapons in hand as Ozpin opened the last gate inside the arena. Nothing came out of the gate, filling the other teams with confusion, but SMG was no fool to say that nothing came out of the gate. Suddenly, Marco flinched and slashed something behind him. They heard an audible roar of pain from behind Marco and appearing right in front of Marco was a Shadow Stalker. Unlike most Grimm, it lacked the bony spikes and face mask and only a single eye mask covered its left eye. Its jet-black skin was the reason it could blend in so easily with the shadows and the darkness. The Grimm licked the wound Marco inflicted it with, wiping the blood out of the wound and disappearing into the shadows again.

"Keep your guard up guys," Stephen warned, "We don't know how many of them are here."

The others nod and kept their guard pose up. They heard more growls and roars coming from the arena but couldn't pin point were the Grimm were. It was really hard for them to fight a monster they couldn't see, but their hearing was the only thing that can save them from anymore surprise attacks. Gavin scanned the area and still saw no sign of the invisible Shadow Stalkers, all he could hear were the sounds of growling around him. Stephen couldn't focus on all of the growls he heard. The confusion on where the Shadow Stalkers were was getting to him and he tried to guess were one of the Shadow Stalkers was. He fired a shot from Vorpal at the wall in front of him. He heard the sound of pain from where he shot and saw a Shadow Stalker come into view, its leg bleeding from the shot Stephen gave it. Stephen rushed towards the creature and swung Crusher at its face, blood pulping from the Grimm's head as it splattered into Stephen's face. The Shadow Stalker still wasn't dead and Stephen just proceeded to hit the Grimm harder, Crusher's spikes penetrating into the Grimm's skull. The Shadow Stalker fell and Stephen took up a smug grin. He heard the sound of a roar coming from behind him and saw Marco and Gavin were fighting two Shadow Stalkers that appeared suddenly from the arena.

Marco took a swing with Edge Shadow, the thin blade slicing through the Shadow Stalker's hide. The wound on the Grimm's back was clearly visible and that persuaded Marco to go further. He slashed again, but the Grimm dodged it and swung its claws at Marco. Marco guarded the attack with Edge Shadow and slashed the panther Grimm's paw off. The Shadow may have lost a limb, but it still continued to fight, limping with its three good feet as it charged at Marco. Marco's used the teal Dust on his weapon and stabbed the ground causing a small pillar of ice to form with icy spike protruding from all sides of the pillar. He threw one heavy strike at the pillar and brought it down at the limping Shadow Stalker.

The Grimm tried to limp away from the collapsing pillar, but it wasn't fast enough and it soon met the spikes of ice with its body. The pillar collapsed and shattered on the ground and the Shadow Stalker was quickly impaled to the ground, blood streaming down its body, coating the ice red and blue. Marco looked around again and decided to help Gavin until another Shadow Stalker pounced from behind him. The Grimm pinned him to ground and doing so caused Marco to lose a grip on his weapon. The Shadow Stalker raised its paw at Marco as he desperately tried to reach his weapon. Marco suddenly heard a gunshot and splatter of flesh from behind him. He felt the Shadow Stalker's blood splash on his face and the Grimm loosened its grip on Marco. Marco got up and saw that the Shadow Stalker that pinned him had its head caved in. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Stephen, the barrel of his gun shield smoking. Marco nodded and Stephen just gave him a thumbs up.

Gavin had another Shadow Stalker pinned to the ground with the prong of his trident, brutally shocking it as the Grimm howled in pain. He managed to kill the pinned Shadow Stalker but another one lunged at him, but he brought his trident up to block the incoming attack. The Shadow Stalker taunted him with a roar and Gavin gritted his teeth. He formed Bakunawa into its rifle form and took aim at the Shadow Stalker. The Grimm disappeared again, causing Gavin to flinch. He heard the growls coming all around him and just took fire a lot of times, hitting anywhere were he thought the Grimm was hiding. He suddenly heard one of his bullets go into something and soon, the Shadow Stalker he was fighting came into view, its leg having been injured by the shot.

Gavin quickly leaped forward and slammed the stock of his rifle at the Grimm. The defenseless Grimm tried to run away but Gavin switched his weapon back into a trident and proceeded to beat the Grimm with the butt of his weapon. The Grimm howled in pain as Gavin continue to hit it with the butt of his trident. Gavin stopped and rested the tip of his weapon on one of the Shadow Stalker's open wounds and shocked it. The electricity surged throughout the Grimm's body causing it to jerk and jolt around as the electricity continued to overtake everything inside it. Gavin continued to increase the power of Bakunawa's lightning ray, making the Shadow Stalker jerk even faster. Gavin let out a devious chuckle as blood began to literally bubble from the Shadow Stalker's mouth. While Gavin was busy torturing the poor, dying Shadow Stalker, another one appeared behind Gavin and took the opportunity to attack him while his guard was down. Gavin was oblivious to the oncoming attack and just continued to shock the helpless Grimm. Suddenly, Gavin felt a bullet whir past his ears and that bullet caved the Shadow Stalker's head behind him. Gavin stopped shocking the already dead Shadow Stalker and looked up and saw Stephen with Vorpal aimed at him. The barrel was smoking and Gavin didn't need a hint to know what Stephen did awhile ago.

"I told you to keep your guard up." Stephen scolded.

"Sorry, got too caught up." Gavin responded, "Besides, you know me."

Stephen shrugged and looked around. All they heard was silence, no more sounds of growling, no more roars so they sighed in relief. They exited the arena and were greeted by the applause teams RWBY and JNPR were giving them. Ozpin applauded them as well and team SMG just smiled.

"You're hurt." Yang said, noticing the wound on Marco's back.

"Oh, that?" Marco asked, "Just give me a sec." Marco flared up his aura and the wound disappeared.

"Well done, team SMG." Ozpin said over the microphone. Suddenly, Glynda came up to him and whispered something in his ear. "Well then," Ozpin said, "It seems that I have an urgent matter to attend to, students. In the mean time, no Free Hunt slips will be given for...safety reasons. I apologize for this, but next week, we could reinstate Free Hunt. So for now, enjoy your weekend."

Everyone groaned at what Ozpin said. They won't be able to enjoy their weekend without going out into some Grimm infested environment and kill a couple or at least dozens of Grimms. Some of them got frustrated at this more especially Nora, Gavin and even Weiss were the most frustrated ones. Without any of them looking, Stephen and Blake exchanged glances and just stared at their frustrated friends. The fact that the two were dating didn't bother any of their friends, in fact they were happy for them that the two were dating and respected their relationship. With that, they could do anything they want and none of their teammates would interfere.

"No Free Hunt means we can do anything we want." Stephen whispered to Blake.

"Are you suggesting a stroll?" Blake asked.

"If we get a chance to make out at some point, yes." Stephen replied.

Blake nodded and they took off, leaving their teammates to calm down their frustrated members. Ruby looked back at them and smiled. She nudged Yang and she looked back also. Seeing the two walk off like that warmed her heart and calmed her mind. _Have fun you _two, Ruby thought. She then returned her attention back to a very frustrated Weiss. It somehow annoyed Ruby that Blake and Stephen just left them to do this. Oh well, no blaming those two anyway.

End of Chapter 6

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**a/n:** Well, got that covered at least. So far, I've been writing longer chapters because that's how I roll now. Also, sorry about the very long arena scene. I just want to showcase all of the non-Ancient Grimms in this story, more notably Terror Bite and Shadow Stalker because none of you guys have seen them before, only mentioned. Lastly, I might pair up the guys with the RWBY girls (not all of them since SMG is only three people), but I haven't fully allowed myself to reach that verdict yet. Whether it might happen or not, it's my decision to make, unless you guys want to say anything about it. As always, reviews, questions, and favorites plus follows are always appreciated and, as always, no spam.


	10. Chapter 7 part 1

Chapter 7- Return (Part 1)

Ozpin opened the door to the conference room to find that Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck were already there waiting for him. Qrow was there too, sharing a possibly decent conversation with Professor Port. Dr. Oobleck on the other hand was busy zooming around the room with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Alright, Bart," Ozpin said, "Take your seat."

"You know I can't do that, Professor." Oobleck responded.

"Alright, settle down people." Glynda boomed, banging a ruler at the table, "We're here to discuss a very important issue here. Now, I'm guessing you're all wondering why Professor Qrow has joined us today for this meeting."

"I'm a little curious on why a Signal Academy professor is joining us." Port said.

"Alright, let me explain," Ozpin explained, "I called Qrow over here because we could use his help in this little crisis we're dealing with. He still has the skills we need to solve this."

"What? I'm still in shape to use my skills as a hunter." Port protested.

"Calm down, Peter," Ozpin reassured, "We all know you have the skills, but you're just a little too old to use them. Qrow on the other hand still has some youth left in him so we'll be taking that into consideration."

"Oh, um, sorry..." Port said apologetically.

"Okay, as I was saying," Ozpin continued, "I have invited Qrow here because we need his hunting skills to hunt down the three Ancient Grimms."

"Wait, wait, wait," Oobleck interrupted, "You mean those three dinosaur Grimms are still alive?"

"Apparently so," Glynda replied.

"Now I see why you cancelled Free Hunt this week." Port said.

"That's right, Peter," Ozpin said, "We need to keep the students away from any of the hunting grounds until we can at least subdue the three Ancient Grimms completely. Remember, just last week, teams RWBY and SMG were attacked by Tyrant King and team JNPR joined in the fight. The beast nearly killed them, but they managed to defeat it quickly. But, of course you all remember that."

"I don't," Qrow mumbled.

"Now," Ozpin continued, keeping his voice as serious as possible, "Tyrant King's reappearance last week was just a slight confirmation that the three are returning but we're not entirely sure about Horned Overlord and Winged Master. Some reports say that they were sighted several times but they did not show up as attacks. We all have to stay vigilant for this one so try to stay updated. Got it?" Everyone in the room nodded.

"Furthermore," Ozpin continued, "Only, Glynda, Qrow and myself will conduct the searches for the other two Grimms. Bart, Peter, you're job is to keep the students here and make sure they don't interfere. If they get suspicious, you make your own alibi. Are we clear?" Port and Oobleck gulped then nodded, agreeing with what Ozpin told them very clearly.

"You two have been given a great responsibility," Glynda added in, "I advise you two not to mess it up."

Ozpin then turned to Qrow, who still had his hood up and has been quiet for most of the time during the conversation.

"Qrow, old friend," Ozpin asked, "Has anyone spotted you yet?"

"Not yet," Qrow replied, "I can stay as hidden as long as you want."

"Good." Ozpin said, "We need your time here in Beacon to remain secret, at least when I decide for you to come out."

"Can do," Qrow replied, "By the way, when's the twelfth?"

"Next next Monday, why?" Ozpin replied, his voice lining with some confusion.

"It's nothing," Qrow replied, "It's just that I told my secretary that I'll be back at Signal by Monday."

"Well, you'll have to extend," Glynda intervened, "The searches for the three Ancients could take more than a two week to finish."

"Bart," Ozpin called. looked up from his coffee and faced the headmaster. "Where's that map of yours?" Ozpin asked.

"Right here, Professor," said. He held up a map of Remnant and threw to Professor Ozpin. Ozpin caught it mid-air and opened it up. The map was completely detailed and labelled, showing all of the important and unimportant places in Remnant.

"Okay," Ozpin started, "we now have to find the exact location of the other two Ancient Grimms. Tyrant King's habitat has already been identified so let's just stick to the other two's locations and hope we find them."

"What if Tyrant King leaves the Emerald Forest? Do we have to look for him as well?" Oobleck asked.

"Highly unlikely," Professor Port stated, "Tyrant King will stay in the Emerald Forest until it either runs out of food or until the forest itself is destroyed. And, of course, that won't happen anytime soon."

"That's right, Peter," Ozpin said, "None of the Ancient Grimms has left their habitats yet so it won't be hard to find them. The problem is none of the three Grimms stay in the same place twice. It's sometimes impossible for us to find each Grimm in the same place such as a cave or a field because they're always on the move."

"Back to the topic," Ozpin continued, "we still have to find the other two, regardless if they move from place to place. Now, we don't exactly know where the Triceratops Grimm, Horned Overlord, has situated itself in Forever Fall, but I have guesses that it might be in the northern are, towards the mountain." Ozpin pointed at an area in Forever Fall where a mountain wall blocked its way to another location.

"As for the Pteranodon Grimm, Winged Master," Ozpin continued, "it has been moving from mountain to mountain, highland to highland and from valley to valley. But, some hunters have confirmed seeing the Grimm on top of Sky Tower Mountain, right here in the western parts of Vale." Ozpin then pointed to a tall mountain labelled on the map, right next to the mountain wall that surrounded Forever Fall from someplace else. "It'll be difficult to climb the mountain and we have no idea how we're going to get there, but I've already got that covered."

Ozpin rolled up the map and gave it back to Dr. Oobleck.

"We'll begin the search for Horned Overlord tomorrow, so get ready." Ozpin told Glynda and Qrow. The two nodded and exited the conference room. Everyone else began to follow suit, with their meeting adjourned; they now have to carry out their responsibilities until the end of this crisis.

...

In a dimly lit office, White Fang's leader looked out the window, a worried expression written on his face. The White Fang had dissolved since the events of yesterday and many of his followers, soldiers and council members have abandoned him to pursue new things since the can no longer fight for the common good of the Faunus, but instead fight for it as normal citizens of Vale.

The leader wasn't able to clear his to-do list as leader of the White Fang and that disappointed him deeply. All those plans required the cooperation of his followers and since that won't be happening anytime soon, there was nothing that he can do to bring the organization back on its feet. But there was one thing in his list that didn't require his followers to accomplish. He already has a trump card for it and he was now ready to play the game and prove that the White Fang is still strong with or without its followers.

"What should I do, sir?" a deep, robotic voice said from behind him. A large, looming figure stood inside his office. The figure was too big to be a Faunus and his robotic tone was far beyond human.

"Head to the manor and kill her there." The leader replied.

"Is that all?" the figure asked.

"Oh, no, not yet," The leader replied again, "Make sure you bring her head back to me and then, and only then, will our war with that wretched Dust company will end. Can you handle that?"

"I was _built_ to do just that sir." The figure replied.

The leader smiled as the figure exited the room. Before it could close the door, it turned back to the leader.

"Has the bait been sent already?" the figure asked.

"Of course it has," the leader answered.

"Good. That'll give me enough time to calculate the data I need for what is to come." The figure said. It closed the door, leaving the White Fang's leader just laughing over the supposed victory he might obtain.

...

Weiss picked up the note that mysteriously showed up on her bed. She didn't want to know who sent the note since she had several ideas of who could've sent the note. _I bet Ruby sent this one to bug me_, Weiss thought.

Then again, she couldn't stay mad at her innocent little partner so she just let it slide and looked at the note. Surprisingly, the note bore the crest of the Schnee family, meaning this came from someone working under the Schnee Dust Company.

She opened it up and saw that the note was from her father. She didn't know how to react at first since she hasn't talked with her father for quite some time and the fact that they weren't in such good terms right now. If it was something important like a business related issue or something else, her father prevented her from participating. Weiss always took a keen interest on the family business since she was the heiress and it was her right to know stuff about the company. But, she had no idea why her father left her out on a lot of business related matters and that just bothered Weiss completely.

Weiss read the message her father gave her and it said:

_Dear Weiss,_

_I need you to come over to the manor for a very important board meeting. I have already contacted Professor Ozpin about it and he has already given his approval. Hope to see you there soon._

_Sincerely, your father._

Weiss couldn't believe what she read. Her father never allowed her to attend any of the board meetings and suddenly, her father allowed her to attend one. This felt odd to her; perhaps her father had a change of heart after what they've been through before. She had thought that all the extensive training and the fact that her father shut her out everything business related were just because he doesn't love her, but over the past few years after those, she thought otherwise.

She looked around her dorm and saw that she was the only one there. It was a Saturday and almost everyone had plans to hangout. She needed to inform someone of her sudden departure since she didn't want any of her teammates to feel worried on where she was or what happened to her. Suddenly, answering her prayers, Yang walked inside the room.

"Yang?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah Weiss, What's up?" Yang replied as she some water from her fridge.

"I'll be going out for a while." Weiss informed, "It might be for an hour or two so just tell Ruby and Blake that way they wouldn't worry."

"Where are you going?" Yang asked.

"Just over to the Schnee Manor for a board meeting." Weiss replied.

"Alright," Yang replied, "Just bring your scroll in case the White Fang barges in or something." It didn't bother Yang that she was showing concern for the heiress, but she was her teammate and she was supposed to show concern to her.

"Relax, Yang," Weiss assured, then headed out the room, "The White Fang's dying and they can't do shit about anything so I'll be fine."

"Alright, have fun." Yang said, waving her arm.

"Don't forget to tell Ruby and Blake." Weiss said.

"Don't worry, I won't." Yang replied.

Weiss immediately went out of the school and called a cab over. Yang looked out the window and just watched Weiss get into the taxi. Wherever Weiss is going, she wouldn't be too concerned as long it was something that wouldn't catch Yang's interest. She knew about Weiss' past since they found out about Blake's Faunus heritage and was a little concerned that the heiress was shot out of a lot of family matters. She decided to just wait for the call if Weiss got into any trouble.

End of Chapter 7 (Part 1)

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**a/n:** And back to the short chapters. Sorry guys, but I made this short because it was actually too long to fit the entire chapter into just one sitting. Also, I released a new story which way different from this one since it follows the RWBY canon. Give it a read if you feel like it and tell me what you think. Anyways, reviews, questions, favs and follows are always appreciated.


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